Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[Jdee43]

Would you say that Search from around 1975 to its end had the handsomest cast on daytime? It seemed like you had to be really handsome or pretty to be on this show. Acting talent was a nice bonus, but not necessary; it seemed to be all about looks.

[GymnastGuy]

Anyone ever heard if Sherry Mathis chose not to renew her contract or was let go maybe due to stalled negotiations?

[VelekaCarruthers]

I thought she started to deal with medical issues that ultimately caused her death in 1994? Not sure but I thought I had read that she battled illness for quite a few years. Perhaps it started when she decided to leave the show? She was so fantastic. I will say that she and David Forsyth worked so well together; it was the only reason I watched Mayer's five months of storylines. 

Thanks for posting all these SFT episodes. Boy, the Nicholson/Mayer time was a mess of some positives but mostly negative. I wonder if Mayer was hired by Ellen Barrett (or if P&G tried to get Labine and Mayer although I doubt the budget would have allowed for both) then she was let go for some reason; and/or if Erwin had months left on his contract with P&G after EON was cancelled and they placed him there before he retired. Losing Sheri then Lisa Peluso was the death knell for this struggling show. Mayer's circus story was inane.  Casting Michelle Joyner big miss; she was awful as was (and always after) John Loprieno. I don't know how that guy stayed employed on soaps for so many years. The positives were Joe Lambie, Lee Godart.  Louann Gideon was lovely but completely miscast as Liza.  Mayer fired four scriptwriters, only keeping Nancy Williams who went on to great work at GL for a decade then Passions.  

Edited May 8 by VelekaCarruthers

[Soaplovers]

It's so jarring seeing the changeover from Sherry Mathis to Louan Gideon.  The vibe, mannerisms, and overall personality of Liza changes instantly.

The chemistry Sherry has with both David F and Joe Lambie is gone the second the recast happens.  I wonder how viewers took the news of the recast since you didn't have time in between airings before the change happened.

Quinn/Sarah... One overacts (Quinn) and one under acts (Sarah).

Wendy of 1985 is a good mix of the 1982 sweet Wendy and the 1983/84 vixenish Wendy.

[Franko]

Seeing T.R. give Danny a massage made me wonder if Jane Krakowski was considered for One Life to Live's Tina recast in 1990. At that point, Jane was in Broadway's Grand Hotel and probably not interested in coming back to daytime (plus, at 21, she would have been rather young for the role), but it still felt like a what could have been moment.

[Chris 2]

Didn’t Meg Bennett return to SFT as a writer in the last few years. I always wondered if they tried to get her back as Liza.

[VelekaCarruthers]

No. She never wrote for SFT 

[VelekaCarruthers]

Wonderful episode, Oct 28, 1985, just posted on Youtube notable for a few things:

I believe this is Scott McKinsey's first daytime soap director debut; IMDB shows he started directing GL in Dec 85.  The prior episode 10/25 was directed by John Zak who had been in LA directing Santa Barbara

Introduction of Domini Blythe as Estelle - the best thing about the show in it's final 15 months.

Lloyd Battista (Ray from Love of Life) plays Rivera.

Viggo Mortensen acting debut as a thug/informant.

I watched SFT during the final few years and Gary Tomlin started off strong, turning around Paul Avila Mayer's disastrous six months as head writer.

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Edited 16 hours ago by VelekaCarruthers

[DRW50]

@VelekaCarruthers As someone who struggles to tell apart the changes in Search's NBC years I am so appreciative of your insights. 

I wanted to ask (you or anyone else) - what did you think of the whole circus story in 1985? I was watching bits and pieces on that channel and was kind of surprised how much focus the place was getting. Usually on soaps if they had a circus it was just briefly or if characters were on the run, rather than their ingenue being in the thick of it. It would be like if Lily Walsh had worked at the circus with Holden and Dusty.

[VelekaCarruthers]

Paul Avila Mayer lasted exactly 26 weeks at SFT and I'd love to know who and how he was hired. I suspect Ellen Barrett was behind it but she was fired or left three weeks before Mayer started. Interestingly, there was a 2 week writers' strike in spring 1985. Both ATWT and AW didn't have writers listed from about 4/1 to 4/15. Mayer/Braxton started on March 25 and continued to be listed through this brief strike which leads me to believe he was hired and wrote months of material before the strike. Given that he also lasted exactly 26 weeks, I'm assuming that he had he couldn't be fired before 26 weeks (whereas most junior writers were (and maybe still) are on 13 week cycles. As far as his storylines, the circus was the pretty awful as were all of his stories. He clearly had a terribly old fashioned view of women and teen girls. The whole plot was designed for TR to be in danger as he build the triangle with her, Ryder and Danny. Mayer's take on women was also apparent in his character assassination of Sonny as well as the relationships Sonny had built with Hogan and Liza. Sherry Mathis and David Forsyth were riveting in their scenes when they discovered their passion but when integrated into the canvas, it was a terrible decision. Mayer retired from soaps and became a psychoanalyst after his SFT stint. 

[DRW50]

Thanks. I had wondered why he never went back with Claire Labine for RH's last years.

Given how well-liked Sonny was with fans and how much Sonny fit the template of an '80s lady for soaps I am not sure why they took a hatchet to her.

[Franko]

And in the Oct. 25, 1985, episode, a pre-fame Tony Shalhoub.

[DRW50]

Angela Bassett was also on somewhere in 1985 wasn't she. The NY soaps did so much for struggling actors. That's one of the reasons I will never stop hoping we get more of them.

[DRW50]

I just saw this old-ish quote from Jane Krakowski, mentioning the circus story as a worst (she said it was a ratings grab) along with the flood. She also mentioned that the reason her character was called TR is because they didn't come up with a name for her - it stood for "The Runaway."

https://www.soapcentral.com/soapcentral/news/2017/0629-jane_krakowski_search_for_tomorrow.php

What was TR's exit, anyway? She left before the show ended and then returned for the finale, right? Did she ever have love again after Ryder?

This is John Mahoney around five minutes, right? I never knew he was on a soap.

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I sometimes wondered why Evie was recast. I get why now. I've always had a soft spot for Colleen Dion, but she is very, very green here.

[Franko]

Yup, that's John Mahoney, a few months before the star-studded 1986 production of The House of Blue Leaves.

Also, God bless TPTB for thinking that a circus storyline was gonna grab the hearts and attention of viewers.