Edge of Night (EON) (No spoilers please)

[edgeofnik]

 

I couldn't agree more about Raven during that era - she was written 'like a man' - aggressive, unapologetic and strong. I wish soaps wrote women more like that. Raven's exit was amazing and the name scene stands out as a highlight her run. BTW - Does anyone know why SG left the show at that point? Upon her return, she was clearly being punished by being left out of the new opening credits, which debut months after her return - despite being the main female protagonist. Obviously, that was more that made up in future openings.  

[j swift]

 

I seem to recall during one her podcast interviews SG mentioned that she had left the show for pilot season in LA so they didn't kill her off.

 

This is a perfect example why it is a whole team and not just a writer or producer.  The run from Margo's murder to Draper's escape to the Puppet Murders to Emily & Sharky to Nancy & the Bryson clinic to Sky is a remarkable achievement in terms of intersecting mysteries and characters that lasted years.  At the same time, actors were leaving, pressures from the networks existed and, technology was changing.  So, to achieve that linear story is amazing in retrospect and makes the firing of the writer seem like a bad idea.

Edited January 4, 2018 by j swift

[robbwolff]

From the way Sharon talks about Erwin Nicholson, he didn’t seem to be the type to punish her by omitting her from the credits. She talks glowingly of him being supportive. The new credits that debuted in 1980 featured the three main couples at that time: Mike and Nancy, Miles and Nicole, and April and Draper, and was later enhanced to feature more characters.

[Paul Raven]

*BONUS*

Afternoon TV (Cover Date: January 1969)

Ann Flood & Laurence Hugo (Nancy & Mike, THE EDGE OF NIGHT)

 

[RavenWhitney]

I had the wonderful privilege of meeting Ernie Townsend one day on a NYC street and he invited me to his show with Marianne Aalda (Didi) that evening.  He revealed a lot about the behind the scenes.  He confirmed that in 1981 Slesar had left a story outline during the writer's strike and that Lois Kibbie and Laure Durbrow wrote the show for those months. That's why Kibbee replaced Steve Lehrman as Slesar's sole script writer.  Townsend said Henry was incredibly bright and that P&G and the network interfered a lot less with him and his stories than they did on the other shows.  (By the way: Henry was let go by P&G and it was partly a budget decision as Less Sheldon was 33 years old and was paid a lot less; second reason for firing P&G wanted more control over stories and pacing and thought Henry was outdated).  My brothers and I attended the show that evening and met practically the entire cast.  Ernie, Marianne, Dennis Parker, Meg Myles, Larkin Malloy, and a few others were at the show.  Meg Myles was tipsy and crying and revealed that she had just been fired.  The writer was done with her character, she said.  It was fantastic to meet them all and hear about Slesar whom I idolized as a writer.  I watched Search when he took over as well as Capitol.  The best of EON at the end were his creations: Sky, Raven, Gunther, Mitiz, Didi, Cliff, Derek, Miles, Preacher, Geraldine, Mike, Nancy, Laurie Anne. Lee Sheldon almost destroyed the show's credibility but he couldn't mess with those classy actors and memorable characters.

[vetsoapfan]

 

OMG, I had this issue! I adored Afternoon TV, and would read it from cover to cover, even the articles about soaps I did not watch. Trying to track down vintage issues now is a pain. Magazines I originally paid 35 cents for are being sold for $25.00 on eBay. Grunt. I'd kill to read all the old Afternoon TVs, Daily TV Serials, and Daytime TVs.

 

It just goes to prove that the suits have always been clueless, incompetent and destructive. A genius like Slesar being outdated? Pffft! He was one of the few soap writers who could do it all: create interesting characters, tell romantic love stories, and dish out chilling, complicated mysteries too. And firing him to save money? Again, pffft! Look at all the money soaps lose when crappy writing drives the ratings down and results in the shows being cancelled.

 

You are right about the legacy characters too. One of the best parts about EDGE's final days was watching Nancy and Laurie talking about the past and referring to beloved characters like Winston Grimsley.

[danfling]

ravenwhitney, was all of this said on the same evening? Meg Myles' character (Sid) was written of the show a long time before Mr. Slesar was dismissed from the show. The network (ABC) was unhappy with Procter and Gamble's decision to replace Mr. Slesar with another writer. That is why he became the co-headwriter of One Life to Live (with Sam Hall). However, the two writers did not work well together, or so I understand, and Mr. Slesar left when his one-year contract expired.

[RavenWhitney]

All of this happened on one day/evening during Slesar's tenure and after the writer's strike.  The info I have on Slesar firing comes other sources at a later date:) I lived in Manhattan for ten years and worked in the east village.  For college money I worked at a xerox copy shop and met Melissa Salmons (who had been hired as a new script writer on Search just as it was cancelled) and often talked with Joe LeSeur, now deceased Another World script writer.  Joe had the scoop on P&G; poor Joe was a raging drinker and often came into the shop to copy his AW scripts while sauced.  In those days Robert Soderbergh and/or Tom King assigned script writers one day a week, usually the same day and I think Joe wrote Tuesday or Wednesday episodes.  I also took a writing class by Barbara Seiger who was on AW script writing staff during that time.  What a piece of work she was.

Edited January 9, 2018 by RavenWhitney

[amybrickwallace]

@RavenWhitney, keep the stories coming!!

[RavenWhitney]

Lee Sheldon (EONs last and worst writer) discussed his time head writing EON in the following interview:

http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/257/

[Graves72]

Phoebe was a wonderful character, and I LOVED Johanna Leister in the role.  I was shocked when she was killed off.  But at that time, ABC was offing a lot of the CBS Edge characters.  For example, within two years of the show going to ABC, running characters like Adam, Phoebe, Tiffany, Johnny and Martha had been dismissed.  Maeve McGuire's Nicole was replaced by a younger, less experienced, model-looking blonde actress (Jayne Bentzen, whom I grew to really like), and by year four,  1979, good-bye Kevin and Bill.  Thankfully, the show still was a great watch.  Pure joy.  Phoebe had grown to be a smart, professional, classy, tough but earthy young lead.  I loved her with Richard Schoberg, the original Kevin, and John Driver.  And she was a great foil to domineering Geraldine.  (Adam and Kevin reminded Geraldine of her late sons, so, whatever women they became involved with, Geraldine disliked if she couldn't control them.  Phoebe was not controllable.) 

 

*This was a response to an earlier post asking about Phoebe Smith.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Graves72

[amybrickwallace]

Here's an...interesting commercial featuring Leslie Ray (Babs Micelli, 1973-74):

 

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[Franko]

I never would have guessed she had that singing voice. The Christmas episode from 1974 always made me think she sounded like Carol Kane.

[amybrickwallace]

She's sung a few times as Stacy Wells on The Doctors on Retro TV. That's definitely the same voice.

Speaking of Leslie Ray, here's how she went from a NYC soap actress into a writer/producer for sitcoms in LA:

 

http://www.kristinmartinmedia.com/our-team.html

[DRW50]

An article on Lisa Howard.

 

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/20/cuba-fidel-castro-affair-lisa-howard-218007