Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[Liberty City]

Kind of obsessed with this soap.

[Broderick]

Slesar was definitely due for a rest (or some creative collaboration).  He was kneecapped in the summer of 1981 when Draper and April both left.  I'm sure he felt the rug had been yanked out from under him, as they'd driven his main stories for the past three years.  He still had a good story in process (Jefferson Brown).  The popularity of Larkin Malloy necessitated re-writing the conclusion of the tale to include a character Slesar had planned all along would be dead (Schuyler Whitney).  I think those two events (the cast defections and the necessity of writing more story for Malloy) led Slesar into a "quagmire" that he was unable to dig himself out of -- resulting in the less than spectacular stories of the Maskers, Smiley Wilson, Jim Deidrickson, and several other rambling stories that didn't play out well. 

I'm glad the person uploading the videos made us aware that the final weeks of the Nora Fulton/David Cameron storyline were scripted by some "uncredited dialogue writers", because I could see, even as a kid, that something was OFF about the scripts.  They got to the "point", but there was nothing Slesar-esque about the dialogue or the scenes. 

The "reveal" of Nora's killer was an especially poorly written script, and the episodes immediately following are also bad.  As someone said above, the characters didn't change (much), but the film noir style of writing was gone by the 20th of May.  

[Mitch64]

Agreed...and I they did try to make it more GH with a bit more sci-fi going on....I did not like Chris at all but love the Van Dein's and the Isis building...they kept all the vets front and center so it's not like it became Teen Central. 

[Maxim]

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Yes! Yes! Yeees! 

[robbwolff]

I agree with j swift that Sheldon didn't change the characters that much, though I did have issues with the way Sheldon wrote Miles in the summer of 1983. I remember being surprised at how quickly Miles ended up in bed with Chris. It seemed very out of character to me for Miles to hook up with Chris so soon after Nicole's death.

[Maxim]

OMG. nooo... I shouldn't have read this comment. I should stay away from the whole topic. lol. 

[Soaplovers]

It seemed just as Sheldon got the hang of writing a soap, the end was near.

The last four or five months really showed a more interconnected show...with the Liz character being connected to other long term characters...and the Logan locked door mystery was well done as well.

[VelekaCarruthers]

Slesar's detailed outlines and scripts with Lois Kibbee ended Friday, April 22nd.  The next four weeks before Lee Sheldon was credited were written by Sheldon (uncredited) and Lois Kibbee off of Slesar's weekly story thrusts.  The writing credits changed on the Monday following 4/22 episode for the next four weeks from Story by: HS / Teleplays by HS LK to Written by HS LK.  Sheldon was officially credited on 5/23.  I recently rewatched the 4/22/83 episode where Mike and Nancy go away to celebrate their anniversary. It felt very meta to me (in hindsight). I can't recall the specific dialog as I write this but while watching the episode it felt to me that Henry knew it was his last full episode.  

[Soaplovers]

It sounds like a few factors caused the decline of quality of EON starting in late 1981/early 1982.

1) Lakin M becoming so popular forced Slesar to change his original plan in order to keep him on.   IMHO, Sky and Raven were the downfall of the show long term.

2) It sounded like the Nora Fulton Story either dragged on, or lost some of the impact that it started with... and having Nicole as a suspect seemed predictable.

3) I think having both April and Draper leaving in the summer of 1981 also caused some issues because they were still knee deep in the Emily story and the story ended suddenly.  Emily's last day is saying they hadn't seen the last of her, and then she never appeared again.   No way she would have accepted defeat since that girl was crazy obsessed with Draper and I have a feeling more was planned.  So I think it was a combination of the 1981 writer strike, plus Draper/April planning to leave the show that caused that story to be deep-sixed.

4) Slesar was probably burned out.  15 years is a long time to headwrite a  show and he probably was also struggling to make the show more action oriented with Teen and Young love being the centerpiece. 

[robbwolff]

After the summer of 1982 with the terrible Republic of Eden storyline, I absolutely loved the Nora Fulton murder mystery. It was classic Edge. And it was relatively short. Nora was strangled in early January and the killer was revealed four months later.

[VelekaCarruthers]

ABC and P&G pushed Slesar to change up things when Monty saved GH and the other shows ramped up action and youth stories.  Also, the 1981 writers' strike left the show in (capable but inexperienced) hands of Laurie Durbrow and Lois Kibbee for over 3 months just when the Sky/Jeff and Raven story was taking off. The strike also coincided with Terry Davis getting pregnant and Tony Craig wanting out after 4 years.  Henry was also given a bigger budget for larger cast (some of which should have been spent overhauling the sets). Henry brought in too many recurring characters to try to up the ante and speed up the action in each episode.  The other big factor was Larkin's car accident that put him out for months. And yes, Henry's 1982 was largely a clunker after Jeff's death. The Smiley stuff didn't work. The summer Eden plot for Jody was arguable Henry's worst plot.  Casting didn't help. The actor who played Chad was terrible.  I also heard that Henry wanted to bring in Timmy Faraday for the puppet plot with his rich background as son of Serena/Josie, but the network wanted the character as a Jody love interest and they were related I guess.  Not sure how. So Timmy was changed to Kelly (again with a terrible first actor who was replaced fairly quickly). Henry also mentioned in an interview that he had a different original Jody story that involved her mother being cast in a contract role but ABC and/or P&G didn't want another older woman on the canvas. Henry wrote all the outlines and three scripts a week. It was too much as he got older; he needed to give up writing most scripts IMO. But Nicholson (producer) miserably failed in updating the look of the show starting in 1981 when he had some budget. Then, they fired Henry (mostly because he was too expensive and they could pay Lee Sheldon close to scale, and recall that the show was losing licensing fees as it was dropped from stations, so budget was dramatically shrinking). Lee Sheldon had some positive qualities especially towards the end but he was left unfettered. Someone mentioned his writing for Miles after Nicole dies and that was truly awful but the producers should have stepped in to modify his plans. Of course, EON had bigger audience at cancellation than Days did for years before it was moved to Peacock.

Edited November 2, 2024 by VelekaCarruthers

[Paul Raven]

Joey Allan Phipps (Kelly #1) was Dennis Parker's boyfriend.Can't recall if Dennis got him the job or what exactly went down.

[Paul Raven]

THE BREWSTER STANDARD-ESTABLISHED 1869 Thursday, March 30,1978

The GOP Women's Republican Club of Putnam County, Inc., will sponsor a luncheon at Sciortino's Restaurant in Brewster on Friday, April 14, featuring Henry Slesar, head writer for the "Edge of Night," one of the better known daytime television serials.

Mr. Slesar, a resident of Patterson, holds quite an impressive record in writing. On March 18 of this year he marketed the tenth year as headwriter of "TheEdge of Night." (This appears to be the record for continuous writing of a serial). He is also currently the head writer of the serial, "Search for Tomorrow." Henry Slesar adds to his credits about 60 scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, plus about 80 leleplays for The Name of the Game. Run for Your Life, Batman ABS Movie of the Week, ABC Mystery of the Week, Man From Uncle and others. He also wrote the pilot script for the series, Executive Suite.

He has authored five novels, some 500 short stories and has several short story collections. He is the writer of the Warner Brothers movie, "Two on a Guillotine," some 28 radio plays for the ABC Mystery Theatres, and has stories included in some 85 anthologies and textbooks. Henry Slesar was awarded an "Edgar" for the best first mystery novel in 1960 by the Mystery Writers of America, a special "Edgar" award in 1977 for The Edge of Night and a National Academy award as the best daytime serial writer for The Edge of Night in 1974. In addition, he is also owner and president of the advertising agency Slesar and Manuels, Inc., and locally, owner and president of Pawling Tele-Antenna Systems Inc., cable television. The luncheon at Sciortino's will feature lasagna and be served at 1 p.m. Cocktails will be availalbe at  noon in the lounge. Tickets are available from Jane Spuehler, chairman, of 26 Rutland Drive, Patterson, or any club member. Reservations must be made. •

[Mrmike]

Things I thought that hurt EON:

1) They should have never brought back Sky and Gunther from the "dead." 
2) It started feeling like the Sky and Raven show especially that last year. Other long-term characters were pushed aside. 
3) I wish Henry Slesar would have at least been talked to in regard to the pacing of the show. He could have picked things up. Look at his work on Capitol. 
4) Too much interference from the higher ups in terms of what storylines should be used. 

Just a few things percolating in my head. Probably have more if I searched.

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I always wondered how Henry Slesar would have ended the show. 

I am always amazed how much people on this site know and are glad to share it. Great history lessons in front of and behind the scenes on this wonderful show.

Appreciate that. 

Anyone here watch The Edge of Night during its live era?

[Mrmike]

Yeah. Me too.