Daily TV Serials - The Return of The Best & The Worst

[safe]

Names were kept as they were spelled/misspelled in the article.

To be continued in next post.

[safe]

[DRW50]

What a wonderful treat, sharing this with us! I don't know how much time this must have taken you. We will never get to see most of this, so it helps tell us what was and also about the strong interesting identities of each show.

It seems like ATWT still had real dividends from their pace of the mid-70s, I wish they hadn't panicked when the ratings started to fall.

So do those who were watching then agree with this or disagree? I don't know a lot about this Gail character on SFT. Wasn't Sherry Rooney on another show?

I have read a little about the story with Katherine and the plumber, but not much.

Edge often seems to have such a sterling cast in the clips I've seen and his comments also say as much. But I thought Doug McKeon was on Alice by this time.

The comment about little Phillip cracked me up.

What he said about the young on AW was similar to what Schemering criticized Lemay's work for.

I kind of thought that would be true about Cher's sister, that she would be green.

I keep forgetting Anna Stuart was on GH. I wish I could see her work.

The comment about Robin Mattson being boring as a heroine - I wonder if that's why she was cast as a bad girl afterwards.

[EricMontreal22]

Fantastic read! I guess OLTL was just starting to head into its classic era. I love when they single out actors like Robin Mattson who are now faves, or ones as early faves like Anna Stuart who still are. And of course love the praise for AMC (though it's funny reading about the controversial storylines--I knew it had some controversy with stories but not that even the soap press thought so--deformed baby? LOL Sorry just the way they phrased that made me laugh)--Nick Benedict was about to leave AMC, anyway. Why was Mary Fickett off AMC? Sounds like George Reinholt's mannerisms were starting to creep in.

On Y&R I didn't know Peggy and her sister were raped in the same year. It's true that I tend to prefer Nixon style soaps over Bell's, but most of his long run at Y&R I find mesmerizing to watch--that said the criticism that it became too morbid does sound fair from some bits I've seen. Would love ot hear more than the breif aside about Lovers and Friends.

Anyway thanks so much for posting this--the kinda stuff I just lap up! Wish there were more.

[DRW50]

Chris was raped in 1973 or 1974. Then a year or more later Bell decided to have Peggy raped. In the Y&R behind the scenes thread, supes81 posted an interview with Bell from around 1976, and I think he said he did this again because he thought the story was important and he didn't think the show had enough viewers when they did the story with Chris for it to have the public impact he wanted.

The part with Nancy, also briefly mentioned, is that Nancy was married to the rapist, Ron. They also had a daughter. They were poor and Nancy was very ill, having been in a coma for some time. She woke back up after Ron was a suspect in Peggy's rape. Chris worked tooth and nail to make sure Ron was blamed, but Peggy herself wasn't sure about whether he was her rapist, and it was suggested that Chris might have been compensating for her own rape. Nancy desperately wanted to clear Ron's name and finally he was either acquitted or charges were dropped. Then it was revealed that he WAS Peggy's rapist, and Nancy realized he was a monster.

I'm not sure what happened after that.

I do agree that these stories could become too much, although it does seem like Bill Bell used rape to genuinely explore the topic, and not as a plot device, as many other soaps did.

It was interesting to hear his panning of Judith Barcroft. I thought she had some weird moments when she was at Ryan's Hope but generally I thought she was very popular at AMC. He didn't seem fond of the baby story at all.

[EricMontreal22]

Was the baby "deformed"? Did people actually use that term when talking about baby's with disabilities back in the 70s? It seems kinda... umm crass. (and I thought it had a mental issue anyway, not physical...)

[Pine Charles]

Wasn't Ann's baby retarded? Her name was Beth, right? This was the baby that died from SIDS in 1977.

[Dale]

safe, I loved that! I always liked John-Michael Reed. He was brutally honest in his opinions! I'd love to see more old reviews like this. I have some around. Would you mind if I posted them on this thread?

[DRW50]

More would be great. I think I have one from 1975 somewhere.

[safe]

Phil McKeon was on Alice. Doug McKeon went on to play the teen in the Fonda/Fonda/Hepburn film On Golden Pond.

Please, go ahead and add them.

[teplin]

Thanks, this was really interesting. It's funny that he lauded Stephen Yates, who I thought was likable but dull as dishwater, and panned the glorious Robin Mattson. To be fair, though, I didn't see any of Mattson on GL, she might have been real green. I pretty much agree with his DAYS and AW comments. Patty Weaver doesn't get nearly enough credit for her DAYS role, IMO, and those AW actors are among the best ever to appear on daytime.

[jam6242]

I remember a bit about the rape of Peggy on Y&R. Ron's wife Nancy ended up having a breakdown and was committed. Chris & Snapper took in Ron & Nancy's daughter for several years I believe. I can't remember what happened to her afterwards. This was around the same time that Peggy had been dating her married professor.

I liked Stephen Yates on GL but I don't remember him being bubbly! I recall him as sort of low-key.

I remember enjoying Adrienne LaRussa as Brooke Hamilton on Days, so the assessment of her is a little surprising.

I agree that Gerald Gordon portrayed his Mark Dante character on GH the same as he played Nick Bellini on the Doctors but I still liked him!

[DRW50]

What kind of character was Brooke?

[Pine Charles]

So can anyone confirm that Ann's baby was retarded? I'm also puzzled by the "deformed" description.

[TC]

Great stuff!

I would have been nine years old in 1977 but I do remember Peggy. For me she sort of appeared out of nowhere, one of those soap children who was never mentioned until she "returned from boarding school" or some such thing. I am probably wrong, but it felt as if she was a retcon and the Brooks family went from three daughters to four in order to bring a younger woman, a girl really, into the Brooks fray. Really annoying voice that someone in casting must have thought was distinctive.

Was Nancy an older woman about 35 or more, hair usually pulled back? Blonde?