Daytime TV Reader's Poll No. 22

January 1972

Who was William Smithers on GL? Not a butler, I assume.

Who was Dr. Jim Fields on EON?

Those blatant anti-Vietnam comments in a frivolous soap magazine -- good luck doing anything like that today.

I'm glad they dropped those unwieldly Another World - Bay City and Another World - Somerset by this time.

Yay for Liz Hubbard.

William Smithers played Stanley Norris ,father of Holly & Ken and ex husband to Barbara. Leslie,after divorcing Ed Bauer married Stanley. He was murdered and Leslie was accused. Her true love Mike defended her.

Jim Fields on EON was played by Alan Feinstein. He married Liz, daughter of wealthy Orin Hillyer. she had previously been married tio steve Prentiss(Conard Fowkes). Jim was a psychiatrist. He and Liz stayed on till 74.

Interesting, except for Bill Hayes and Bob Hastings there seems to be almost a total turnover in the men of daytime, while the women keep on plugging along.

This may sound silly, but I was actually a little surprised to see an actor named Feinstein. I don't think you heard too many ethnic names like that one back then, they were usually changed for the biz.

I love seeing with my own two eyes (well, sorta) just how wildly popular my beloved Robin Strasser was back in her Rachel heyday.

I also think it's kind of funny that Susan Lucci is nowhere to be found. I realize that her acting has often gotten the but I guess I always assumed that she was immediately a fan favorite who fangirls and boys would have written in to support.

Thanks, Paul. Stanley Norris is one of those characters I wish I could see more of. The GL history books just paint him as a bit of a control freak heel with neurotic kids.

quartermainefan, that's true, I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it. I wonder if this is because many of the men on the list at this time were either already moving out of the leading man age bracket, or they were moving out of soaps altogether, like David Birney and David Selby. Most of the women are younger and had more of a career ahead of them, and then were smart and lucky enough to be put into roles which could be strong character parts.

I also think it's kind of funny that Susan Lucci is nowhere to be found. I realize that her acting has often gotten the but I guess I always assumed that she was immediately a fan favorite who fangirls and boys would have written in to support.

It looks like AMC wasn't too popular in the fan polls in these days. I wonder if all the topical stories of the Nixon ABC shows didn't go down well with this group. AMC seemed to hit more of a stride later on.

Edited June 14, 201015 yr by CarlD2

I meant Don, not Bob Hastings. Bob Hastings I had no idea, has spent the last 15 years playing Comm. Gordon in all the various Batman cartoon shows and straight to DVD features. That must be a nice gig for someone who would otherwise be retired.

I remember reading that Lucci was never really as popular with the readers of the magazines as most people would think. I think I once heard that her soap magazine covers were never big sellers, and publishers and editors were always surprised by this, especially when lesser known soap stars would sell more magazines with their face on the cover.

Edited June 14, 201015 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

George Reinholt and David O'Brien--two legendary leading men of daytime in the 1970s!!

Jacquie Courtney deservedly at #2--a shame she is generally disrespected among the great soap actresses of all time.

Re Alan Feinstein - he also went by the name Alan Yorke before joining Edge.

Really?? That's interesting, I guess I was indeed onto something.

Funny, I thought Search was a pretty popular show, at least through the late 70s. Its ratings were very respectable through that time. Pretty surprised to see it dead last in the poll. As for AMC, it was still a relatively new show at this time. I don't think its ratings started to climb until 73 or 74.

Daytime TV Reader's Poll No. 23

February 1972

Who were Ron Harper, Paul Savior, Vince Bagetta and Ted Tinling? And Ray Girardin? Some of them ring a bell but it's a faint one.

I'm glad that the DS actors still had a following even after the show was off the air.

Weird seeing Gail Kobe listed. I didn't know she was still acting at this time.

Michael Hawkins -- was he any better on his soaps at this time than he was on Ryan's Hope?

I wish I could see some of Andrea Marcovicci's work on the soaps. I enjoyed her on Wiseguy.

Thanks for these.

it's interesting to see Bright Promise ranking so high, considering it was a low rated (and now forgotten) show.