Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[FrenchFan]

Thanks so much ! I really wonder when it started.

[MissPalmer]

This is Volume 2, number 6 (June 1976)....So I guess this magazine started in 1975!

[will81]

I do have one issue of Soap Bubble from early 1976 (I think May). Lynda Hirsch was a contributer or editor until it folded the same year and she started her own soap column in the newspapers. It is a pretty thin publication and the synopsis are not amazing but are still okay. I will scan mine in the new year to add. 

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks! Would you please post the stuff about The Doctors on that show's thread at? That's a great cover photo.

[victoria foxton]

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Edited December 22, 2021 by victoria foxton

[amybrickwallace]

Yay, thanks!

[dc11786]

I'm continuing to jump around. 

*** December 1984 ***

I made it to the Murder with Merriment party. I appreciate the set up with Stephanie and Liza. I wish they had stayed in this lane with these two feuding over the television station. Shaffer does well in this material. Both she and Mathis seem to be having fun especially when the gun refuses to go off. I also like the little bit where Lloyd shows up at Stephanie's Christmas party looking for Liza and Stephanie is like "She can have you every other day, but today you're mine." It's a shame that story wasn't played longer. 

The strongest story I see is Lloyd's realization that TR is his long lost daughter, Rebecca. I really like the build. TR knowing the truth and rejecting Lloyd before Lloyd knows. TR idolizing Chase and Alec, but afraid to tell them the truth because it will involve Lloyd. TR's adoption going through right before the truth comes out so TR feels like she is in the clear when she is in fact not. I am still not sure I got to the point where Lloyd has told Liza and TR, but the scenes with Alec and Chase learning the truth were very strong. 

Wendy pretending Alec was her secret boyfriend was a nice setup for story once Warren was dead. I think there was potential in that pairing (Alec/Wendy), but I do adore Wendy / Quinn. 

I did like the bits with Liza and Kentucky trying to find the pilot for the plane. The heart attack stuff wasn't as noteworthy to me because it played opposite the stuff with Lloyd learning that TR was his daughter, which, too me, was more emotionally compelling. 

Cagney and Suzi planning their wedding is a non-story. The fact that the payroll stuff is just sort of dropped is unfortunate. I did appreciate that ocassionally some construction worker would come to Bigelowe's and treat Cagney like trash. 

Overall, I found it pretty run of the mill, but I will say that the actual Murder with Merriment party was a stand out. 

*** September 1985 ***

Unintentionally, I ended up watching the last episodes of Paul Avila Mayer and Stephanie Braxton's run. It ended September 26, 1985. Gary Tomlin was credited on Septmeber 27, 1985. I'll  be curious to see when things come together. In the batch I watched, mid September til the end of September, I felt the show was very strong. I'm not sure if Tomlin was tweaking the last few weeks or simply Avila Mayer and Braxton got the show together. I have a feeling it may have been a bit of both. 

There were a lot of great surprises. I found Danny, TR, and Ryder really engaging in their post-circus story where they seem to return to high school and are planning for life after graduation. One thing I noticed is that there was an emphasis on dreams during this time period, which I think was a way to build on the theme of "searching for tomorrow" and what that brings. All the actors have decent chemistry. There is a great bit where TR suspects Ryder is interested in Mrs. Webster, his guidance counselor, and she and Danny play out the scenario of how TR imagines the meeting between Webster and Ryder would play out. It allows Jane Krakowski to play a much more flirtatious part which I found interesting and Loprieno is hilarious imitating Adam Storke's tendency to use his hands. It's just fun. It's not super dramatic, but I feel having some light hearted material balances some of the other storylines to create a more cohesive canvas. With that said, I do wonder if the plans were for Webster and Ryder to have a fling becasue even Lloyd comments on the attractive guidance counselor. I imagine this story gets dropped, but maybe it doesn't. 

I had seen some of these episodes before because I enjoy the interactions with Kate and Suzi where Kate is a low key meddling mother-in-law. Suzi's horror at Kate cutting Jonah's hair was great. I had forgotten that sequence. I think the situation was tense wihtout being melodramatic and I appreciated that. Part of me wishes that Cagney and Suzi had stayed there a bit longer, but I am suspecting that Jo Henderson has been written out around the time Tomlin takes over. Again, I could be wrong.

The stuff at Caldwell House with Dave Wilkes and Mel Hibbard is a nice subplot. I love Stu offering Dave the room because it'll anger Hibbard. The stuff with the bank has been set up back in April so I'm impressed with that piece. I think Caldwell House was just a smart move and I am sorry that it goes away. Dragging Adair into it with a fliration with Dave was intriguing. I forget that Adair and Chase aren't really a couple they just tend to have a bunch of scenes together.

Robert Brian Wilson's Chase is more cunning and manipulative than I remember Kevin Conroy's Chase being. I do like the rivalry between Chase and Quinn and Wilson plays Chase more like a Curtis Alden type which I don't hate. It's just a very different version of the lovesick character Conroy played, but the writing supports what Wilson is doing. 

The Wendy / Quinn / Sarah triangle continues to play out. There are times I find Sarah so out of touch with reality, which I believe is suppose to be part of her character. There are times though that its just sooo extreme. I like the idea of an old fashioned, conservative young woman who isn't sure whether to join the nursing program or to be a folk singer. Quinn determined to make her the star based on her style doesn't work for me. Lisa Peluso plays Wendy's frustration well. Sarah is an introverted young woman who would need a knight in shining armor like Quinn. The sequence with Sarah and Quinn at the motel during the flood was nice. Agnes Carrouthers, the multiple divorcee motel owner, was a nice comical character. I like that "Search" during this time creates a lot of conflict from clashing values, which brings us to...

The Hogan / Liza / Sunny story is a bit improved from the last set of episodes I watched. I find the idea that eveyone is up in arms about Liza and Hogan because she is an unmarried female business executive involved in an affair a bit of a stretch. With that said, I appreciate an attempt to ground that with Larry Weber's Thomas Collins, the board member determined to see Liza out and Lloyd in. This is basically the story I was suggesting back in those spring episodes. Also, I appreciate that Lloyd claimed he was pushing for the publication of Hogan latest novel "The Passionate Fool" as a book club alternate because Hogan wouldn't be happy in a relationship with a woman who was more successful than him. I find Lloyd very interesting. In 1983, I remember Lloyd being more like this version of the character, but more business oriented rather than as a romantic obstacle. I would be curious to see how any of this would play out with Mathis and Haskell still in the roles.

With that said, I wonder how much tweaking is going on because by the end of Tomlin's first episode he seems to be rewriting Sunny's suicide attempt by suggesting that it was staged rather than an actual attempt. Or had this been alluded to since the start? 

*** February/March 1986 ***

The flood. I'm not sure I had seen this long stretch before (I think it was about 8 episodes) involving the flood and the aftermath. It was interesting to see this before I had watched the 1985 episodes that also involved a flood (with Wendy, Sarah, and Quinn). This was definitely exciting. I am not sure though if there was enough fall out from it. 

Ryder's death was hard to watch. Pinning him during the flood after he had gotten TR to safety was heartbreaking. Watching the kid suffer for several scenes wasn't fun. The final goodbye scene with Ryder and TR was tough to take. I realize there needed to be casualties. The story wouldn't have stakes, but I am curious how this played out. TR seemed to become very clingy to Lloyd and Estelle and there were hints that Danny might develop a drinking problem, but I am not sure how much any of this developed. The setup of Lloyd moving into the penthouse post-flood has the potential to produce a lot of interesting character driven drama, but I am not sure it does. 

From what I gather, Liza had a tough February sweeps. She learns she is pregnant, then she is held hostage by Riveria, and then she is involved in the flood in a period of two weeks it sounds like. I didn't realize the Women to Watch stuff ended right at the start of the flood. Hogan's reaction to the pregnancy seems pretty on brand for Hogan at this point. I liked that Jo was concerned about Patty and Hogan's relationship. 

I don't care for Evie very much. I think Colleen Dion is fine, but the character isn't super compelling. 

I thought the party after the flood was a nice touch. There needed to be that balance and that celebration that they had survived. The montage to the Beatles song was nice. I also liked the origin story for Liberty House with the candles to help light the way as people searched for shelter. The revelation that the secret owner of Liberty House wanted Jo to run it was intriguing. I wonder what Tomlin had planned as I don't think that was ever really developed. 

I wish more of the spring / early summer was available in the show's final year. At what point did the USA reruns stop? I believe they started with October 1982, but I cannot remember if they made it to the end. I seem to recall they only went into 1984 or 1985. 

[antmunoz]

Joan Copeland (Andrea Whiting) has passed away at 99. 
 

http://dlvr.it/SGXPpC?fbclid=IwAR2_PokNXZWd5tsAg1-jnmN1bfQ55dWYOAt5FJW0sCpRQyagJWVKdP-JXM0

[Mona Kane Croft]

Wow, that's very sad.  Joan will never get the acclaim she deserves -- especially for her work on soaps.  She was amazing as Andrea.  Caused so much trouble for Jo.   

[danfling]

i think that Andrea was the best role for the late Joan Copeland.   I did not see her on Love of Life or The Edge of Night, but I saw her in everything else she did following Search for Tomorrow (which is where I first saw her).

 

[Paul Raven]

The late Joan Copeland in a CBS publicity shot as Andrea

 

[amybrickwallace]

I wish her SFT work was still available, because everything I've heard of it is incredible. I did enjoy her as a recurring judge on L&O.

[danfling]

I enjoyed every role in which I saw her.   I did not see her on Love of Life or The Edge of Night.    She was already on Search for Tomorrow as Andrea when I first saw her.   Then, I saw her on How to Survive a Marriage and her two roles on One Life to Live.    I also enjoyed it when she was on Law and Order.

[Joseph]

Hi people i'm back from the dead here, couldn't resist Posting

1. Sad News Marion Brash the Original Eunice has passed January 10

2. there's this new channel dedicated to Mary Stuart i found out That's posting 1970's clips of the soap, i get from my own searchs that it wasn't previously avaliable

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[Khan]

Would someone remind me (and others) the circumstances surrounding Tony's death?  Also, who was writing the show at that point?

From the looks of things, that scene must have been in the actual stairway at CBS.

I love the fact that music was used very sparingly.  Nowadays, the music would absolutely intrude on such a scene to the point that it takes you OUT of the scene rather than put you in it.

And that last shot of Bob and Jo walking down (I assume) the hospital hallway and past those swinging double doors?  *chef's kiss*

Thanks for sharing, @Joseph!  I can't wait to see what else has been uploaded on that channel!