Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[MichaelGL]

I discovered a EON montage on YouTube today, and it left me wondering, why wasn't this show such a hit? I mean it's premise seems to be mystery and adventure, which was all the rage in the 80s. It really puzzles me.

[DRW50]

EON was a popular show for 15 years, until Procter & Gamble had the show moved to an earlier timeslot to create a bloc of P&G soaps. EON had many fans who were still in school and who were men who watched the show when they were getting home from work, and they could no longer watch. The ratings plummeted. After a few years CBS cancelled the show. NBC picked it up and moved the show back to the original slot, but by that time momentum was lost, and many fans did not bother to follow to a new network. Then in the late 70s and early 80s soaps became all about youth and location shooting and none of that really fit EON.

[bellcurve]

ABC. It moved to ABC in 1975.

Also keep in mind some of those ABC affiliates either aired it on a day behind or as long as a two week behind delay and some of them didn't even air it all. That's what hurt EDGE's momentum in the long run.

And they sure as hell tried to make all of that youth and supercouple stuff fit in. The carnival episodes(the climax leading to Draper Scott being reunited with April) were beautifully directed and those were an outdoor location shoot. And they pimped the hell out of Kelly/Jody/Gavin/Martine, even if it did suck ass.

Edited June 11, 2009 by bellcurve

[DRW50]

That's what I thought, they did try for youth stories, but it just didn't work for viewers. Didn't they also fire Maeve Maguire, then make Nicole much younger (before killing her off), replace the old police chief with a young, hot chief, etc.?

Sorry about the NBC, for some reason I thought NBC got EON as well as SFT, I forgot there was a 5-6 year difference in when those shows were cancelled by CBS.

[bellcurve]

I dunno, but I wasn't too fond of the chick playing Nicole during the whole, "OMG, why is my white blood cell count low." story. The casting director should have been shot for choosing those lame actresses.

I wish YouTube or Hulu would pick up where Edge left off. I really am sick of trying to keep myself unspoiled about the Clown Puppet Killer.

[bellcurve]

For me, I loved it because it was different from alot of other soaps in that it was mystery driven, but it didn't talk down to its audience or have some woman sitting at her window crying about the love she lost. Things always happened. It was very slow paced, but things always happened. And not to mention Sharon Gabet, who is simply one of the most badass and glamorous actresses on the effing globe. I'm glad she retired from acting and found God, so I can remember her just as she was instead of seeing her on today, so desperate like every other older daytime actress that came in her time.

[Sedrick]

It should also be noted that even after the show moved to ABC, right up to it's demise in late 1984, EDGE was still a popular draw...in the markets in which it could be seen. In the cities where the show was shown at it's proper time, EDGE consistently placed second and even first in the timeslot, particularly in big cities. However, those wins simply were not enough to make up for the large number of affiliates not airing the program.

In fact, ABC did not cancel EDGE. The network very much wanted to keep the show on the air, but in the fall of 1984 came news that come January 1985 a huge chunk of the stations that were showing EDGE would be dropping it, most of them choosing to replace it with more lucrative syndicated fare. At that point the economics simply didn't work for P&G, and they pulled the plug.

[DRW50]

I didn't know any of that.

What did some of you think about Frances Fisher? And Joel Crothers?

I wish Holland Taylor's run was out there.

[edgeofnik]

BTW -- You should check YouTube. Two users have been uploading key scenes from SL, such as Clown Puppet, The Locked Room, etc. (These are five to 10 minutes scenes. Clown Puppet has about 20 scenes for two parts of the story.) Very cool stuff.

[bellcurve]

As I mentioned previously, I thought Frances Fisher was great. Very pretty, but also very capable as an actress. I can totally see how she made a name for herself in film. I didn't care too much for the Deborah Saxon character(always up in everyone else's business), but Fisher was great.

Joel Crothers was just blah. I mean, I don't think he had the charisma or the sex appeal that actors like Lee Goddard, Ernie Townsend, Dennis Parker, and even Tony Craig had. I guess that's what the role called for, but I just didn't find him all that attractive or really that good.

[DRW50]

It's interesting how many EON actors went on to have very solid acting careers after they left the show. Holland Taylor, Lori Laughlin, Dixie Carter, Larry Hagman, Frances Fisher.

[quartermainefan]

It's really a shame aolvideo is no more. I loved watching the stories with Frances Fisher. Even the period covered by aol, (1980 roughly give or take) was superior to the later show when it became Schuyler and Raven as some bogus soap supercouple. Joel Crothers was good I thought too, and had perfect looks for a soap actor.

[FrenchFan]

Could someone help me?

[bellcurve]

I wish I knew.

[FrenchFan]

Thanks for your answer. His two email adresses are no longer available