HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE

[DRW50]

Thanks. I hadn't seen that in a while. I guess she dated that man before remarrying her husband.

Did you notice Brad Davis or F. Murray Abraham as anything special at the time?

I know you said you didn't care for Michael Hawkins in his various soap roles - what did you think of Ken Kercheval?

I wonder why they didn't pair Armand Assante and Lauren White up on The Doctors (or did they, I can't remember).

[Bright Eyes]

Jennifer Harmon is one of those soap actresses I'd love to see more of / to know more of as well. Does anyone remember her time at OLTL? Do you think she deserved her Emmy win? I ask because I don't know of her true capabilities. Plus, Cathy Craig seems like one of the most fascinating characters to me.

[dc11786]

The material with Fran / Johnny sounds interesting. I can almost picture the two of them sitting alone in a quiet house discussing those little things that some people would label mundane, but are so important. In the story, I believe the McGhee family purchased the Kirby home after Larry and Chris decided to divorce.

Monica Courtlandt sounds a little like Mona Aldrich from what I've read. Copeland was well received as Andrea, wasn't she?

Dave's death sounds heartbreaking.

I believe the clip on youtube is from April 1974. FrenchFan posted Bryna Laub's newsletter for that month several years ago and it mentions Chris going on a date with a man named Harry Forrester, someone she met at Peter's office, which led to champagne. I don't think it was a serious romance, but probably Chris' first attempt to date anyone after the divorce.

It's been nice hearing saynotoursoap's recollections about the show because the storyline provided in the article about the counterfeit bills and Johnny's arrest for the murder of some syndicate man seem so different from what the show was about. Max Cooper's 'is he married? is he single?' story doesn't sound very exciting either, but the show seems to have strong dynamics between the characters which can carry a show when the storyline is weak.

[Matt]

You can find the weirdest & most unexpected stuff on youtube sometimes. Buried into this demo reel for actress Lynn Lowry is a very short (maybe 30 seconds?) clip of Lowry & Ken Kercheval in a scene from How to Survive a Marriage. This clip begins at the 3:18 mark. Most everything else is from her low budget horror film work.

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[DRW50]

Thank you so much for finding this! I wish she'd post more. Her work in that short clip is very good, very natural and it gets at you.

[DRW50]

Daily TV Serials 73-74 special

Edited December 23, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

[Paul Raven]

Great article,thank you. Did they continue to use location shots? I remmeber Texas and Capitol both promising to use lots of location footage but that hardly happened.

Do posters think the focus was too narrow? I applaud their attempts but have read that the first few months at least had precious little story but a lot of pseudo-psychiatric dialogue.

[dc11786]

Potter's comments about the car accident stood out. He talked about how on other soaps a car accident would have pulled Chris and Larry together, but on 'How to Survive a Marriage,' it only highlighted how far apart Chris and Larry were. Saynotoursoap talked about Dave Bachman's death in similar terms. Bachman had a heart attack and knew he wouldn't survive unlike other soaps where Dave would have pulled through.

The show did broaden its focus as time went on by introducing the McGhee family and Max Cooper / Susan Pritchard. Who actually left the show? Monica got divorced for a third or fourth time, didn't she, when Terry Courtland left? Dave Bachman died. Julie and Tony left town. Did anyone else go?

[Chris B]

I want to see this show so bad after reading that! And that clip was interesting as well. I just can't believe Rosemary Prinz got these roles on AMC and this show and didn't stay. She's a great actress, very popular so you'd think she'd be interested in extending it.

[Paul Raven]

Prinz's first love has always been the stage.After 13 years on ATWT she vowed never to take on a long term gig.She wisely used her popularity to make some money and push some issues dear to her (anti-war on AMC and 'womens lib' on HTSAM) before taking off. I think I mentioned earlier that she was making big bucks for Marriage,possibly soap's top earner at the time.

[Chris B]

I guess that's understandable, but such a shame. If she wanted to she could've been a Susan Lucci or Frances Reid, Katheryn Hays, etc. in daytime. I bet she's probably had a happier life outside of soaps though. She was able to do things on her own terms and still pursue what she wanted which I admire.

[Paul Raven]

From Variety

June 74 Sylvia O'Brien, Armand Assante, Lauren White and F. Murray Abraham have joined the regular cast of NBC-TV's "How to Survive a Marriage" soaper

August 74 Ken Kercheval, James Shannon, Albert Ottenheimer, Tucker Smallwood and Elissa Leeds join the cast of NBC-TV's "How to Survive a Marriage

[DRW50]

September 1974 Daytime TV

Joining in June were Sylvia O'Brien as Mother McGhee, Armand Assante as Johnny McGhee, Lauren White as Maria McGhee, F. Murray Abraham as Joshua T. Browne and Albert M. Oppenheimer as Moe Bachman. Leaving were Allan Miller as David Bachman and Suzann Davidson as Lori Ann Kirby. Suzann can now be seen on As the World Turns. Replacing Steve Elmore as Peter Willis is Berkeley Harris. Steve left to pursue other theatre engagements.

[vetsoapfan]

During the middle of its short run, this show was amazing. It was first penned by Anne Howard Bailey, who was simply not good, and who had characters pontificating about social issues, like women's lib, rather than actually TALKING to each other. The people we saw on screen were more caricatures than characters. Then Rick Edelstein took over, and the series was more like a stage play every day, with multi dimensions given to the characters, poignant family drama and sexy romances in the mix. The saga of David Bachman's death was gripping. Against ATWT, however, the audience didn't find the show, and when Edelstein was replaced (by the dread Margaret DePriest, I believe), the writing collapsed again, and the show's cancellation was almost like mercy killing.