Search For Tomorrow Discussion Thread

[victoria foxton]

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    AN INTERVIEW WITH JEFFREY MEEK (Quinn) SFT: (Craig) ATWT Jeffery reveals he was cast as the second Joe Perkins on SB. But replaced by Mark Arnold. But before he even did a scene. Jeffery also reveals that Andy Warhol was a soap fan.

Edited July 5, 2020 by victoria foxton

[OzFrog]

Jeff Meek is still looking pretty good nowadays. I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually liked the sibling chemistry that he had with Matt Ashford and David Forsyth on SFT. Each of them very different personalities and could hold their own in their individual stories, yet amazing together when it came to family stuff. Yes I know the McClearys pretty much dominated SFT for the last couple of years of its run, but I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if SFT had got a reprieve and stayed on the air.

[dc11786]

 

I have seen a bunch of stretches from late 1982 until early 1984 before Jeanne Glynn came on and then years ago the episodes from AOL from late 1984 until early 1986. I think Jeanne Glynn's work is a bit of a mixed bag, but a bulk of 1984 is missing so it would be interesting to see how most of that played out. Glynn came in after Tomlin, who left the show in pretty good shape, but had a massive cast turnover within months when Brian Emerson, Kristen Carter, Warren Carter, Ringo Altman, and Travis Sentell departed during a very short period of time. Martin Tourneur and Hogan McCleary were out not long after. I think this really shifted too many dynamics at once. I don't know who left verse who choose to leave, but it might have been more reasonable to recast someone like Warren if Michael Corbett couldn't be tied down to another long term contract or at the very least have spent some time with the fallout.

 

If they had to kill off Warren, I would have liked them to have Suzi unable to handle it mentally and have to be committed to a sanitarium briefly. I think this would have added stakes to the custody of Jonah especially if Kristen returned looking for custody of Jonah for herself. I think Kristen trying to align herself with Wendy, first, as they were friends, before Wendy turning on her because of events that had happened between Kristen and Brian offscreen, before siding with Cagney and slowly falling for him. Meanwhile, you would have Suzi in the sanitarium becoming friendly with a woman who is looking out for her who turns out to be Jennifer Phillips, the woman who killed her mother. Jennifer still had some ties to Henderson (she had killed Eunice, had been involved with one of the Walton/Bergman boys, and had been friendly with Stephanie) so I think she could have come town briefly after the sanitarium storyline. 

 

I think if they had integrated Kristen and then Brian back into Suzi's orbit that the writers wouldn't have had to try so hard to come up with story for Cagney and Suzi especially since Brian and Cagney were both police officers. 

 

 

I'm perplexed by what period of time viewers consider the show dominated by the McClearys. I feel like the last year is very McCleary heavy, but most people seem to claim that they enjoyed the Ireland storyline. The little I watched wasn't my cup of tea and dominated a large portion of story time. I thought Paul Avila Mayer and Stephanie Braxton did some good work with the McClearys in making them feel like an actual family,  but I didn't feel they were overwhelming. Maybe I just didn't watch enough episodes. 

[Soaplovers]

I watched the last months of the show when Long/Walsh were writing it...and while the Mcleary's were heavily focused on...I thought there was some good Stu/Jo material, some good Liza and Estelle shade, and connecting Patti/Hogan was smart.  The show had a multi generational feel with heavy focus on older and younger characters.

[victoria foxton]

Some of the episodes ( 8576-  8591 ) the were on Bob TV (  RIP ) have ended up on munecojim. 

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Edited July 5, 2020 by victoria foxton

[dc11786]

Thanks for sharing. I was a bit shocked to see that Jack Betts character appeared to be a love interest for Jo. Interesting to hear that they seemed to be giving her something more than that. 

[robbwolff]

 

If I remember correctly, around April or May 1986, they started showing scenes involving the mystery man who owned Liberty House, the apartment building that because the central focus during the last months of Search. It was implied he knew Jo and may have been a man from her past. The storyline was quickly dropped and then Jack Betts' David Glenn showed up.

[RavenWhitney]

That was a Gary Tomlin story.  Long/Walsh stories started airing soon after through end of show.

[Paul Raven]

That's a great idea but writers seldom seem interested in what went before.

The only stumbling block would be that Morgan Fairchild would not have been available and a recast would have weakened the story.

Having flashbacks of Morgan (we know they exist) would remind long term viewers and show newer viewers that this was not a retcon, satisfying everyone.

Might be fun to list other past  characters/stories that could have been used in the 80's.

[dc11786]

@RavenWhitney I got lost in my train of thought and meant to say that Ellen Barrett, not Joanna Lee, casted Conroy. I thought he was fine, but I sort of get your point about not being typical leading man material. In some ways, he reminded me of Grant Alexander, who I also feel has a very specific look. I thought Adair and Chase were decent, but not awe inspiring. I much rather have seen a Chase / Wendy / Alec triangle. 

 

@Paul Raven If it was a short arc, spring 1985, Fairchild would have been between "Paper Dolls" and "Falcon Crest." Am I missing something? If they could have gotten like 13 weeks from Morgan they could have ended my silly sanitarium story with a fire where she saved Suzi's life, but was horribly burned. Then she could be sent away with the audience knowing that she could eventually return with a new face just in time for another sweeps.

 

In terms of other stories, I don't think Patti ever learned that Chris was Len's biological child. Crafting a story that built to that moment would have been worth some time. I think I thought it might be good if they had cast an age appropriate Patti to pair her down the line with Lloyd Kendall, but I think that was because I wanted a scenario where Len would have mentored Alec at the hospital which would have built a rivalry there. Eventually, you could have Estelle on the hospital board and show an interest in Len to make things more complicated. 

 

I know that they played a rivalry between Estelle / Sunny over Bela, but I would rather have had them bring back Steve Kendall, who I felt was dumped way too quickly. I know the Kendalls end up replacing the Tourneur / Sentell clan, but initially they are there as rivals, which wasn't utilized to its full potential. I think Sunny and Steve getting together and Estelle being the meddling potential mother-in-law who was her boss would have been intriguing. 

 

If they were determined to do a Liza / Sunny triangle, I think it should have been over Lee Sentell. I would have had Cissie run off leaving Lee as a single father. Lee would arrive in Henderson to help Liza with the company. Liza would be interested in being a mother figure to Roger Lee, which would lead to Lee and Liza spending time together while Lee and Sunny were also together. I probably would have liked to see this played out around the same time as the Cord Tourneur story with Cord a more traditional villain to take over the role vacated by Warren Carter. I would also have Cord trying to seduce Sunny to keep her off the trail of his illegal dealings at Tourneur Instruments which would play into the Liza / Lee situation. Given how fluid the canvas was at the time, I think I would have had Cord aligned with a returned and recast Spence Langley. Spence, I believe, also had a small role in the Roger Lee plot. Wasn't he friendly with Cissie? I thought I read he pretended to be the baby's father, but I might be wrong.  

 

@robbwolff I have heard about the mystery owner before. Any speculation on who it might have been? Could Tomlin planned to bring Martin Tourneur back into the story?

[DRW50]

 

Looks like Bob is back on there under another similar name, so a lot of his stuff will probably show up again. 

[victoria foxton]

 I think what may have gotten him in trouble was the Passion episodes. So glad Bob's back.

Edited July 6, 2020 by victoria foxton

[OzFrog]

 

Yep according to synopses he did pretend to be the baby’s father initially, I believe this was when Liza and Travis initially found out that Cissy was Roger Lee’s mother. This was because Cissy didn’t want anyone finding out that Lee was his father (she didn’t want to hurt Lee and Sunny).

[DRW50]

I'd never seen this before. Such a moving, emotionally resonant Christmas episode, and so real, especially in showing Patty's continued mourning of her father and how she adores Stu (in her dream referring to him as father). And some fascinating, very early special effects as well.

 

That Jo greets us at the end, comforting us after a "complicated" year, makes me more emotional than anything I've seen on soaps in a very long time. No Jo being shot in the head, Stu choking out Marge and calling her a whore, Patty being a budding murderer - just a simple, connection.

 

Soaps, and the people who made them, understood more nearly 70 years ago than just about anything on TV today.  This is what soaps should be doing for us today. This simple connection. We need it more than ever, and they betrayed us. They broke our hearts. 

 

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[antmunoz]

Judge Henderson ultimately was revealed as the owner of Liberty House.  Maybe he was hot for Jo?  He decorated her apartment for her as a surprise...at least, the original mystery owner did.  I’m sure the original plan was changed to make it Jeremiah.