Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[Paul Raven]

I believe that Bunim started her soap career on search as a production assistant or similar and worked her way up.It's sad to think that she wanted to get rid of Jo,the only constant (apart from Stu)from the beginning.One factor may have been that Mary Stuart was very vocal and protective of her character and the show and perhaps Bunim saw this as some sort of threat.

Carl,thanks for posting the article.Do have any others in the series?

It's interesting to see an opinion piece from that time rather than just a synopsis.As regards the treatment of 'feminist' characters,perhaps it's indicative of the the attitudes of the time. The viewers were homemakers and so career women were presented as less than sympathetic to make women at home feel good about themselves.Kathy had an abortion and was presented as selfish for not wanting a child.

I read that Tony Vincente was killed off because Anthony George wanted to leave.I think Jo and Tony were popular,especially considering that Tony came along after Sam,who was very popular as partner to Jo.I can imagine that with Jo and Tony happy,there wasn't much for them to do and Anthony George may have been bored in the role. Tony and Jo were married in 72 and he died in 75.

Jo had a tough year in 76,being shot in May and then having her sister shot in November!

Courtesy of French Fan July 74

Search For Tomorrow

Written by : Gabrielle Upton

Produced by : Woody Klose

Paula Markham insisted the arrival of her former fiance, Mitch Farmer meant nothing and insisted she and Stu went on with their wedding plans. However, Stu forced her to admit she had feelings for Mitch. He cancelled the wedding and left Paula and Mitch plan their life together. Eunice was upset that upon returning from their honeymoon, John would rather attend a charity ball than rush to bring home her daughter Suzie who was having trouble adjsting to John.

Len, after leaving Seattle to be with Patti, began drinking heavily when he learned the doctor who replaced him was taking credit for his work. Jennifer was furious to learn her mother suffered a heart attack and her father did not tell her. She asked Scott to accompany her home to Wahsington where her mother died. She sought comfort from Scott. Mr. Pace told Jennifer he liked Scott but opposed the fact Scott was married. In Washington, Scott saw Doug and learned he was walking again. He explained his situation with Kathy. When Kathy called to tell Scott she had finished in California, Jennifer answered and Scott told Kathy that he and Jennifer were having an affair. Shocked, she asked Doug’s help and told him Scott had to be back to Henderson or she’d go to Europe. Doug took his car to find his son. Meanwhile, Len, drunk, drove into Doug’s car. He reported the accident anonymously and left without noticing Doug was the passenger. Tony operated on Doug but injuries raised the possibility he might not work again. Len was upset to overhear a policeman saying the hit and run car would be tracked down by paint smears on Doug’s car. Scott felt great guilt. Jennifer supported him but Scott realized Kathy must have thought he would not want to save their marriage and had already left.

Stephanie confronted Tony on his feelings. He admitted being physically attracted to her but he loved Jo. Upset, Stephanie took time foff to visit her step-mother, Rainey who cared for Stephanie’s nine year old daughter, Wendy. She decided to bring them to Henderson. Patty learned Stephanie had a child and Stephanie said she divorced Wendy’s father after two years of marriage.

Jump forward to June 76

Jennifer snuggles close to John. She loves these early morning hours when she can bathe in his manly scent, while he sips his cup of coffee. She feels so warm, protected and safe in his arms. (the arms that she lied to get!) It's a perfectly beautiful way to start the day.

Happiness (sometimes) is a fleeting thing. Jennifer's morning happiness is interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell. This blond (lying) lovely is quite surprised to see a police officer standing in her doorway. He comes bearing (he feels) good news. The officer tells Jennifer they have picked up the man who attacked her, and they would like Jennifer to come down to the station and identify him. The color drains from Jennifer's face, turning her cream white complexion even whiter. She tries to get out of going downtown (she feigns fright) but John convinces her identifying the man is the only right thing to do. Jennifer's caught; there's no way out, she agrees to look at the line up.

After the policeman leaves, John tells Jennifer she need have no fear that he will pack up and go as soon as she identifies the man. "I can't leave," John confesses, "it suddenly dawned on me that I don't want Eunice anymore."

Liza's beauty and Steve's songwriting ability may end up enriching (financially, anyway) their lives. Liza is offered a job as a model and Steve has composes a catchy folk tune, which he has sent out to recording companies. The coming days may hold a few surprises for the Kaslos

Davis Lands a Job

Henderson has gotten a new resident. David Sutton is remaining in town. He has gotten himself a job as an investigator with Scott's law firm, Anderson & Fine.

Christopher Delon (alias Miller) also has a new job. He tells Jo he'll be working for the Henderson Herald.

Jo's hospital room is bedecked with flowers. Liza walks over to the windowsill and wistfully touches a petal of a yellow rose. Steve follows and tenderly takes his wife's other hand. Bruce and Jo simultaneously look at their watches, then glance over at the justice of the peace. He too, looks at his watch and notices that he's not the only one anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bride. He has a heavy schedule and he wishes that the young woman would hurry up and make her entrance. His wish is answered; Amy breathlessly enters the room. She apologizes for her tardiness, saying she couldn't put Tory to sleep. Amy then positions herself next to Bruce. She stands rigidly by his side, until the justice of the peace says the final words: "You may kiss the bride." These words have the impact of a gale force wind, they push the tensions of the last few days right out of her. Amy collapses in tears in Bruce's arms.

This release may mean a happy, new beginning for Bruce and Amy. Their wedding night (spent in the bridal suite of Hartford House) is tender and romantic. It looks as though this marriage may not be the cold, arrangement-type union Amy originally had in mind.

While one marriage begins, another one is coming to an end. Scott has given John the legal separation agreement, and all that is needed to end the Wyatt marriage is John's signature on the dotted line. John is not so quick to sign. He doesn't like what he reads. Eunice states point blank (legal point, by legal point) that she doesn't want any financial help (all she is asking for is minimal child support).

Clutching the agreement in his hand, John arrives at his old place of residence to discuss this grave error her feels Eunice is committing. Eunice tells John that's how she wants things; she wants to make it on her own. Seeing that he can't persuade his wife to change her mind, John agrees to go along with her wishes.

Daddy, Daddy, Where Can You Be

Scott and Kathy have a problem on their hands. Eric has expressed the repeated desire to know who -- and where -- his father is. Scott doesn't want to tell him. Discussing the matter with Kathy, Scott says: "I don't want Eric to know what a louse his father is. The man was a liar and blackmailer who deserted him!"

Surprise! Surprise!

"Gwen!" Chris utters in amazement as he sees his ex-wife standing outside his door. "Aren't you going to invite me in?" Gwen replies. She doesn't let Chris's gaping mouth throw her; she's the model of cool sophistication. Chris motions his former wife inside. Once in the confines of his room, Gwen wastes no time getting to the point. She tells him she wants to get back together. "I was stupid and foolish. I should have trusted you. I should have realized you weren't having an affair; I should have known there must have been another reason for your constant disappearances. This reason was only recently revealed to me in a newspaper article detailing your heroic exploits. After I read that article, I headed straight for Henderson and vowed to myself not to return to San Francisco unless you are with me." Chris tries to tell Gwen it would be futile for her to hand around and hope. "It's too late," Chris says. "Whatever I felt for you has long since died." These words fall on deaf ears, Gwen's adamant in her decision to get Chris back.

The living room of the Phillips' house seems to reverberate with the harshness of Eric's words. Eric has just lashed into Scott saying he'll never forgive him for not telling him Ralph Hayward, the man who used to live next door, is his father (Eric found out the identity of his father by reading his birth certificate). Scott tries to make Eric understand that he couldn't tell him, but Scott reveals nothing about Ralph's true character, so these words are too empty to soothe the hurt feelings of the young boy.

Kathy advises Scott that the best way to handle the situation is to find Ralph and have Eric meet him face-to-face. "Eric's an intelligent and perceptive young boy and it won't take him long to realize his father's true nature." Scott ponders over Kathy's suggestion.

"Hello, Jo. I'm Gwen Delon," says the cool, controlled figure standing in front of Jo. Jo's really not surprised to see Gwen, she knew it was only a matter of time before she met Chris's ex-wife. It only stands to reason that the former wife (especially if the wife isn't exactly happy with her "former" status) would be desirous to meet with the new woman in her ex-husband's life.

Jo listens quietly and patiently to Gwen's words. It pains Jo, but she realizes that Chris wasn't very fair to his ex-wife. After all, Gwen only divorced him because she thought he was having an affair (what else was a woman to think when her husband disappeared for days at a time!) Jo can see that Gwen is still very much in love with her former husband and Jo can't be sure that Chris doesn't feel the same for her (even though Chris denies repeatedly that he still loves Gwen).

It's not hard to guess Chris's feelings about Gwen's visit. It angers him to see the impact she made on Jo. Jo is now more unsure than ever about marrying him.

Tying the Knot

Scott walks Ellie down the aisle. He positions her next to Stu and then takes his seat. The ceremony begins. The love shines from both Ellie and Stu as they listen to the minister's words. It's a traditional ceremony and it ends with the very traditional: "You may kiss the bride." Stu obliges, placing a semi-passionate kiss on Ellie's lips. They no sooner break from their embrace, then they're besieged with the well-wishes of their friends and family. Stu and Ellie have to fight back their tears. This is the happiest moment in their lives. It's a moment that's made even more blissful by Jo singing a song she wrote especially for them. Jo's lilting voice, accompanied by Bruce's guitar, caresses the air and cradles them in an embrace of love.

Woody Reed, big head of a modeling agency, has big plans for Liza (and it doesn't look as if these plans are strictly business!!) Woody offers Liza a $500 modeling assignment in Hawaii. Liza surprises Woody; she turns him down cold. She says she can't leave her husband; even if it is for only a few days. Woody tries to make Liza see the error of her ways, but she's adamant in her decision. Liza's spunk doesn't turn Woody off, in fact he finds it quite a refreshing change. He's too used to models jumping at any tidbit he offers them.

[saynotoursoap]

I agree with the article, and I agree with Paul Raven -it's refreshing to read an intelligent critique rather than a synopsis. I have a few of these from the mid-70's which I should post if anyone is interested.

IMO, SFT went through a bad period beginning in 1973. Part of the blame was a four month WGA strike. It was during this period that the character of Eunice went to hell in a handbasket. Ken Harvey was a good actor, and I thought he and Ann Williams had chemistry together, but the scab writers threw Eunice at newcomer Val Dufour's John Wyatt. As my young nephew would say, the writers were "off the chain" during the spring and summer of 1973. John had purchased a magazine and hired Eunice to write for it. This led to Doug's becoming jealous of Eunice's career and feeling inadequate as a provider. Then suddenly, Carl Devlin ( who had published the magazine before John) became paranoid that executive Frank Ross intended to oust him. This happened literally overnight. Ross was in the hospital for minor surgery, and Devlin sneaked into the hospital and injected Ross with a fatal drug overdose. Ross had slipped out the back door of the magazine office while Eunice was working, thus giving himself an alibi. Doug and Eunice argued because Doug erroneously believed Eunice to be John's lover. Eunice became pissed and went to John's cabin in the woods to sort out her feelings. Devlin thought Eunice disappeared because she had somehow implicated him in Ross' murder. The storyline was illogical and played out in about two weeks. Devlin found out where Eunice was and went there. He saw what appeared to be Eunice in a boat in the lake. He shot her just as Doug arrived, after Jo convinced him of Eunice's loyalty. Devlin shot Doug too and fled. This was a location sequence. Eunice fell into the water. The police found her hat, which was distinctive, and rushed Doug to the hospital. After a week or two of episodes, we learned that Eunice was alive. She explained that John's secretary Marion Malin (who was in love with John) had met her at the cabin to warn her away. It was Marian, wearing the same hat as Eunice, who was killed. Doug awoke and discovered that he was paralyzed from the waist down. He pretended that he had intended all along to divorce Eunice because now he didn't want her burdened with a disabled husband. Later, Doug was in a terrible car wreck, hit by Jo's son-in-law Len Whiting, who was drunk driving. This accident left Doug paralyzed from the neck down! The show was truly outrageous, with depressing, dark stories. Around 1975, when the multi-tiered storylines were introduced, SFT became so much better. If Bunim was responsible for that, she did a good thing; however, I think a good deal of the credit goes to the writing of Ann Marcus and acting by the series regulars.

[DRW50]

Thanks so much for posting those synopses. Is the June 1976 one from the 8/76 or 9/76 SOD? I know the 9/76 one has Kathryn Hays and John Colenback on the cover.

I'm surprised that Stu was already thinking of getting married again in 1974, hadn't Marge only been dead a few years? I wonder how viewers felt about that.

The Daytime TV Stars No 18 is the only one I could find. I assume that's different than the usual Daytime TV. I enjoyed the magazine; there was the usual fannishness and certain propaganda element but there was also a surprisingly detailed amount of behind the scenes information and that critical review was something I didn't expect to see.

I guess the early/mid 70s were when soaps still weren't sure where to go with feminism, like when Jennifer Hughes on ATWT was talked out of going to school by her husband and mother-in-law. I wonder if Ryan's Hope was the first soap to have the balance between career and home life treated so matter-of-factly for women.

The Daytime TV Stars also had interviews with Michael Nouri and Meg Bennett. I posted them in the main soap thread.

One interesting tidbit -- they say that at the time of the latest Nielsen ratings (I guess late 1976?), the show was getting 9.5 million. Does that sound right?

[DRW50]

Wow that's fascinating, and as always, so vividly described. And I had no idea there was a writers strike in 1973. Perhaps sometime we could talk about how this affected the other soaps which were on at the time.

I'd love to see the reviews you have from this era. I posted this one to see if anyone was interested, so if you have others (or if I duplicated one you already had, I apologize), that would be fantastic to see those. I love these because you get a certain look into the show which you usually won't get.

[saynotoursoap]

Robert Mandan's Sam was wonderful. I didn't care for George Gaynes or Roy Schuman, and I loathed the whole deranged-by-war plotting. A number of soaps pulled that stunt, sending characters off to foreign climes where their characterizations were suddenly altered and always for the worse. I found it cheap and exploitative. The Sam/Andrea story was riveting, too. It was difficult to watch Bob Mandan on Soap as Chester, because I so accustomed to him playing the straight man on Search.

Tony George actually had a great deal of chemistry with Mary Stuart, and like Sam Reynolds, Tony Vincente came with a troublesome wife, Marcy. Despite being gay in real life, Tony George obviously had extremely warm and loving feelings for Mary Stuart in real life, because they had tremendous screen presence. I never, never understood why he left Search only to turn up a year or so later on One Life to Live, where he stayed for nearly a decade.

Paul Dumont played Chris Delon. I thought Dumont was an attractive man, but apparently he and Mary Stuart did NOT get along in real life, so Chris was abruptly written out.

Jo's next suitor was Greg Hartford, played by Robert Rockwell. I didn't care for the character or actor at all. I really began to tune out to SFT in 1977. This was the period in which a revolving door of writers began, with the tone of the series changing dramatically from month to month.

Strangely, I loathed John Aniston, too -at least as Mary Stuart's love interest. I realise this developed in order to continue the longstanding feud between Jo and Stephanie and also connect the Sentell family with Jo, but Martin seemed so weak and unethical; it was difficult to accept that sensible, salt-of-the-earth Jo would fall for this man, much less marry him. Martin was far better suited for Stephanie. I placed episodes from 1980 on Youtube, and I feel that it is apparent how exciting Stephanie and Martin are together. I could not stand Martin feeling sorry for himself, boozing it up over Jo, and accidentally starting that fatal fire in August 1980. SFT ruined his character for me with those plots.

I do wish Jo would have had another Sam or Tony in the NBC years rather than just being a refuge for Suzi and others. And yes, thank GOD the writers were dissuaded from having Jo and Stu unite in the last show. That would have been too icky for words.

[Paul Raven]

Robin Eisenman was the first Jennifer. She later played Nurse Stacey on GH and subbed as Nikki on Y&R.

I can't imagine George Gaynes as Sam.Was this intentional to make Sam less appealing and strengthen Jo/Tony?

I agree with Carl about Sayno's posts. It is great to read his perspective on the soaps of that time. Please keep posting,it is much appreciated.

Carl,unfortunately i cannot tell you which issue the synopsis is from as I have the synopsis only,not the complete issues.

[DRW50]

Thanks, Paul. I'm glad you have the synopses, that's what I enjoy most. I was asking because my grandmother used to have some old soap magazines at her house, most of which were lost at one time or another, but I remember reading through some of them many years ago and a bit of the synopsis you posted reminded me of one of those I read back then, and I was trying to go based on the cover.

I guess George Gaynes and Robert Mandan had some similarities later on (both in sitcoms, albeit in very different roles), but it's definitely strange to imagine Gaynes as a leading man romantic figure. He was OK as Frank Smith on GH, but that was a character part.

[soapfan770]

One question I've been wondering about is was there really a scandal that Jo divorced Martin in the early '80s?

[rcsnj]

So...Search had a character named Mitch Farmer? How odd since Somerset had a Mitch Farmer as well (Jill Grant's ill-fated husband, played by Richard Shoberg).

[Khan]

According to her kids' book, though, Ann Williams told them Mary Stuart was jealous of her b/c of the amount of fan mail she (Williams) always received.

[Khan]

I don't think Bunim was responsible for SFT's improvement in 1975; that credit should go to Bernie Sofronski.

And that's about the first time I've ever heard anyone pay Ann Marcus (or her writing, anyway) a compliment, lol.

[Bright Eyes]

Really? Ann Marcus wrote some great stuff on Days. She wrote some boring dull stuff too, but still.

[Soaplovers]

I've never viewed any of Ann Marcus' work but perhaps her style fit better on SFT then other shows that she headlined. From what I heard, the several months at Love of Life were fairly well received (of course, the writer she replaced was horrible).

Just because a writer is fantastic on one show doesn't mean they will work on another show (i.e. Corringtons were great on SFT, so-so on Texas, and not well-received on Capital).

[DRW50]

I thought Ann was pretty decent on Knots Landing.

[Khan]

Which time? During S3 or S's 13-14?