Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[saynotoursoap]

Both were a tremendous blow to the series, though in my opinion, Sherry's loss was the greater. Liza was Stu's granddaughter. She was part of the core. I liked Travis and Rod Arrants very much, but Travis always existed only within Liza's realm. I felt that it was mistake not to build the Sentell family. Oh, he certainly had a series of family members over the years: Renata, Lee, Mignon, Rusty -but they were all quickly killed off or sent off. Travis never had a strong family base, which is what the show eventually tried to establish with the McClearys, and I applaud them for that. Truthfully, Jo's son Duncan Eric should not have been killed in the 50s. This decision later undermined the structure of the series, just as one writer giving Lesley a long lost daughter on General Hospital helped save that soap.

I also regret that when AOL's P&G channel made episodes available years ago, Search for Tomorrow did not begin with its earliest available episodes as the other soaps did. I thought the 1979-80 era was wonderful. The Corringtons did a marvelous job with Search. Losing them to NBC really derailed Search for Tomorrow. At the apex of Travis and Liza's romance, during the summer of 1979, Search actually went to the number one spot in the Nielsen ratings for one week, which was quite an accompolishment.

[amybrickwallace]

His longest-running family member on the show was Uncle Martin (John Aniston), right?

I sent Rod Arrants a copy of the Memphis Magazine profile on Sherry Mathis from 2006 along with my letter. He thanked me for sending it and added, "Sherry was a dear friend and an amazing artist - as an actress and a singer."

[antmunoz]

Watching SFT from May 1983 and going crazy knowing I've seen Helena St. Clair, Steve Kendall's agent, before.

BOOM! It's Lezlie Dalton, Elizabeth Spaulding herself, now a brunette and wearing an ENORMOUS hat while doing verbal battle with Stephanie.

This is the beginning of the 6-month period of new characters (Steve, Michael, Rhonda Sue, Barbara, Josh, Angela, Danny) who don't survive the end of the year (except Steve).

Interesting how Steve mentions his father, brothers and SISTER, yet Rebecca (TR) has been missing for over a decade. SFT never could get the entire Kendall family on the show at the same time.

Josh #1 is much better than Josh #2, who annoyed the hell out of most of us as Jonathan on GL. But SFT was on a TEXAS hiring spree, and Damian Scheller was an alumni.

Stephanie is dressed very matronly. It's funny considering she's about to go all cougar on Steve.

SO MUCH of the show at this time happens off-screen. Characters tell things that happened...that we never saw! It's disjointed. For example, Jenny relates that Brian proved to Andie that Andie was Jenny's daughter by showing her a birth certificate...we never saw it.

Robert LuPone is better than I remember as Tom Bergman, seemingly being set up to be a young hero again. Hogan McCleary will soon pop up and unseat him in that role and Tom will disappear forever.

Jo is pretty absent. Unlike the final year, Mary Stuart is not terribly involved in any storyline, until she's kidnapped (again). Jo and Suzi don't interact enough as ain't and niece.

Sherry Mathis' beautiful laugh brightens any scene, even when Liza is otherwise heartsick. Her interaction with fellow musician Michael Kendall is delightful.

[Paul Raven]

The writers gave Jo a 'ward' in the form of Bruce Carson in the early 70's to keep the character relevant at that time. But Bruce was dropped in 78 and never returned.

Maybe they should have had a mysterious young man come to Henderson who takes an interest in Jo and her family.It appears he is a stalker out to do her harm,only for it to be revealed that he is in fact her natural son. There was a baby swap when Duncan was born so the baby that died was not hers.

Tom Bergman,Danny and Gary Walton,Laine Adamson etc should have been present in town rather than the endless supply of Kendalls.

[antmunoz]

The Sentells were swapped for the Kendalls...who were swapped for the McClearys.

I was good with the Kendalls, but Jo was at least tied to the McClearys through Suzi (later Jonah) and Patti. Still, it was one family of brothers after another. I wonder if Adair would've returned if the show hadn't been cancelled?

All this chemistry testing between Tom and Sunny apparently goes nowhere. In May 1983, lots of singles are being "tested"--Tom and Jenny, Jenny and Keith, Warren and Wendy. Only the latter duo really takes off. And Warren wasn't really single. LOL

Wasn't Bruce offscreen, saddled with a kid with Amy? (Ugh, senior moment.) Too bad he couldn't have filled the Brian role on the show. I don't think Stephanie needed a long lost son with a NY accent. If Bruce had married Kristin, the conflict with Jo would've given her something to do. But, quite frankly, everybody on the show at this time gets along VERY well.

[slick jones]

1966:never heard of this family, friends of Stu...Bill Allen...Wayne Carson

Kitty Allen...Sandy Freeman

Lynn Allen...Debbie Payne

Corky Allen...Bobby D. Breen

info courtesy of the Sudsluva Trading site^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, Bruce (Joel Higgins) and Amy Kaslo (Anne Wyndham) had a baby girl together. Amy was the sister of Steve Kaslo, and nearly terminated her pregnancy so she could donate her bone marrow to save his life when he battled leukemia the first time, as she was the only match in the family. He said if she had an abortion he wouldn't take her bone marrow donation but was able to hang on until the baby was born and Amy was finally able to donate.

[Paul Raven]

Never seen reference to the Allen's before. Who knows what plans were for this family although it seems unlikely that there was room in the 15min format for another family.

[slick jones]

From the brief synopses, I think Bill and Kitty went to dinner at Stu & Marge's house. A week later the whole family is listed. I never ever heard of them, but he trades the tapes out, so they must be real. I'll post a couple GH characters I've never heard of in the Classic GH thread.

[DRW50]

Is that Bobby Breen the child star?

[slick jones]

It must be, I believe Corky and Lynn were their kids.

[amybrickwallace]

How long was that family on the canvas?

[slick jones]

I doubt very long, since we've never seen them in any books or sites.

[amybrickwallace]

That sounds right - thanks.

[antmunoz]

Just saw Carl Lowe as Dr. Bob Rogers on a May 1983 episode with Liza and Travis. I'd forgotten he'd appeared after, say, 1981. And was disappointed that Mary Stuart was included in this episode as Jo. Hopefully there's more to come.

Liza and Michael sing THERE IS LOVE by The Captain and Tennille in this episode and it is GORGEOUS.

I am amused how everyone in Henderson is getting a new job this week that they're suddenly qualified for. First, Keith went from bartender to television camera operator. Kristin took his bartending job; now she has camera-savvy too. Jenny, a former hooker, has home from waitress to Tom's assistant on the Henderson Crime Commission, which just employed newbie cop Brian. Every time Tom and Brian meet at the docks to have an "undercover" conversation, I fall out.

Steve and Warren aren't wearing shirts. Often. For no reason. SFT was pandering. I think Jo shows up in a tankini next week.