Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[FrenchFan]

Love it ! What is the source ?

I wish this era were available.

[DemetriKane]

Still early in my viewing, but Edge is becoming one of my favorite shows. I am obsessed!!!

[j swift]

Am I reading this correctly?  There are (apparently untrue) stories that are oft quoted throughout the internet about the network or production asking Slesar to change his style but, the man himself said it was a surprise and he was given no direction or warning.

[RavenWhitney]

ABC wanted to keep Slesar but the show was operating on a shoe string budget and P&G wanted him out. I suspect it had a lot to do with salary. Lee Sheldon was 32 at the time he was hired as Henry's replacement. i'm sure Lee was paid a lot less than Henry. P&G was about money and bottom line and they had been losing money on licensing fees. In fact, when Henry was fired, and Lee took over, the show reduced its contract actors from 18-19 to 15 for the remainder of its run.  They moved to recurring Marianne Alda, cut Mark Arnold and others.  Henry was fired because of money problems.  If they wanted a change and could have paid big bucks, they would have hired veteran writers to transition the show.  They hired a newbie who destroyed the show. It was embarrassing. But the producers didn't help by changing up the title credits with the lame sunset and terrible music.  Henry was subsequently hired by ABC for 1 year at OLTL and he lasted 14 months on Capitol on CBS. He also consulted on AW at some point in late 80s but wasn't given screen credit for it. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by RavenWhitney

[j swift]

That's a very logical conclusion, thanks for your expertise

[danfling]

With such a tight budget, I wonder how the show could manage to get Willie Aames, Elaine Stritch, Eva Gabor, Dick Cavett and Jerry Zaks to appear during this era.

[Franko]

Most if not all of those people were based in New York/the East Coast, so that probably cut down on expenses.

[Broderick]

If money hadn't been a problem (his veteran writer salary), I'm sure Slesar could've changed his style to suit their mandate.  But I'm glad that didn't happen.  If they wanted a choppy, amateurish mess like Lee Sheldon turned in, it's a good thing Slesar didn't prostitute himself financially and talent-wise to create such childlike garbage.  His legacy at Edge of Night is generally looked back on as 15 years of excellent storytelling.  Lee Sheldon -- bless his heart -- doesn't have a legacy worth mentioning.  

[Paul Raven]

Not to defend Sheldon, but I read that the show improved once he gained some experience in writing a daily show.

It seems that sometimes these writers who are inexperienced with the daily serial format are sometimes thrown in at the deep end with little preparation or guidance and have to learn on the job under terrible time constraints.

[danfling]

I had thought that Willie Ames and Eva Gabor were based in the West Coast.

[Broderick]

I never saw much improvement, but that's just my opinion of course.  Lee Shedon learned some of the "do's & don'ts" of writing in the genre -- not beginning a new day in the middle of an episode, and so forth.  But the stories themselves just weren't "Edge" quality, and the scenes were short & choppy, seemed random and haphazard.  To me, the entire show just deteriorated one day in 1983 and never really regained any appearance of quality until the last day.  

[Paul Raven]

Newspapers.com article from that time.

[RavenWhitney]

Sheldon hadn't a clue.  From Raven and Sky as Nick and Nora Charles to the final Raven story (to deal with the actresses pregnancy)....all stories were incredibly stupid. The final three storylines: Some crazed guy who's dad owned a mine kidnapped Raven because she looked like his dead wife, Michelle.  Beth the 35 year old virgin, marries Miles, after the Laurie Karr/Liz mystery which made no sense was resolved.  The final episode with the Alice in Wonderland twist was the final insult to viewers. So effin dumb.  

[j swift]

Forgive me because I know this has been asked and answered, but who wrote the Children of Eden storyline (unsure if it's children or people or whateve's, but the one where Jody was captured before a ren fair).

[victoria foxton]

 

  

Edited May 30, 2022 by victoria foxton