The Young Marrieds

[BakerSq]

Mike Mikler passed away June 23, 2008.

There is an interesting video of him on YouTube and was recorded about a year before he passed. Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=i8ebmaJJbyo

[saynotoursoap]

Thank you for the update. I am sorry Mike passed away, and I wish I had not watched that video. I met Mike in the 1980's, and he was such a lovely man. He was so sincere about his work, and disillusioned with Hollywood. He was too sensitive and too honest to make it in that snake pit. He also spoke so lovingly of his work on The Young Marrieds. He was proud of the work the ensemble did, and he regretted that more was not done to save a series which was so obviously exceptional. I am disheartened that his life did not turn out differently.

[dc11786]

I did find the episode of 'Young Marrieds' fascinating. ABC Daytime seemed to be trying to differeniate itself from the other soaps of the time, but I have to wonder if they were just not tapping into what the audience wanted. Does anyone think something like 'Young Marrieds' would have done better around 1970? Or was it just not possible for Ann to ever leave her husband and still be considered a rootable heroine by the American audience?

[saynotoursoap]

Personally, I do not feel that Ann's affair was detrimental to the soap's success. The Young Marrieds had low ratings for one primary reason: it was suicidally programmed opposite the solid #2 soap on the air -The Edge of Night and NBC's very popular game show You Don't Say. In another time slot, The Young Marrieds may have grown and prospered. TYM's ratings grew slowly but surely during its short run, so I feel the potential was definitely there, but it was too adult for the afterschool audience, especially in the 1960s and on a network that pandered to a youth audience.

[BakerSq]

Interesting to note: when The Young Marrieds was given the word of its cancellation, it was enjoying it's highest rating ever. Many felt it was politically motivated because The Nurses in NY was far less expensive to produce than a Hollywood soap like TYM. As a result, those involved in production defied ABC's orders to wrap up the series and decided to intensify the story-lines and go with the cliffhanger of Walter's pending suicide that would forever remain unresolved.

And also a word about Susan Brown's character Ann Reynolds. I have gone through the papers of John D. Hess that were given to Dartmouth after his death. He was the head writer for much of The Young Marrieds run. I found some amazing projections for all three story-lines that he had proposed for the series. Included in the Ann/Walter storyline was Ann found herself pregnant after her affair with Paul Stevens was over. Walter found this out and was willing to resume their marriage and take the baby on as his own. Ann felt this was admirable but not the right choice for Walter to make and decided to leave Queens Point and relocate to San Francisco for a time. Upon her return she would be childless. We would not have known for some time after that is abortion was involved or if the child was given up for adoption. Needless to say this projection did not meet ABC's criteria and was shelved. Ann did not become pregnant.

By the way... Every script, outline, character study and projection for The Young Marrieds that John D. Hess wrote is on file at Dartmouth. I have had many wonderful days in the library reading and copying scripts and projections that are provided by the very gracious and helpful staff.

[DRW50]

Those sound like fascinating stories. The one about Ann and her pregnancy is very ahead of its time - that sounds like something GH would have done about 5-6 years later.

At least they did give TV Picture Life the outslines of what the stories would have been if they hadn't been canceled, so fans could have something of a happy ending.

Was John Hess involved in any other soaps?

[BakerSq]

Yes. John D. Hess also wrote for The Secret Storm and Love of Life. Also many prime-time series.

[DRW50]

Was Young Marrieds his first soap?

[BakerSq]

No. His last.

[DRW50]

That's a shame. I wonder if the experience with Young Marrieds soured him.

[BakerSq]

Did you know that "The Young Marrieds" was based on a novel by Judith Heiman? It was loosely based on the characters Ken and Peggy Mosley who later became Walter and Ann Reynolds. The storyline of Walter-Ann-Paul had a strong connection to the novel but the Dan & Susan Garrett, Matt & Liz Stevens, and Jill and her friends story lines did not exist in the book. Peggy did have a friend who might have later become Susan Garrett. I am not sure what the connection between Judith Heiman and Jim Elward (the series creator) was or why he chose that novel to base his Walter/Ann characters after. The book came in two versions-- hard copy and paperback. Both versions had a wedding band on its cover with Ken's name on one side of the split and Peggy's on the other. The book ended with positive hope that Ken & Peggy (Walter & Ann) would reunite.

When The Young Marrieds had time to roll full credits, there was always a line that read "Suggested from the novel by Judith Heiman."

[DRW50]

I didn't know that. It sounds interesting. Did Heiman ever talk about the show?

[dc11786]

I had heard about the book, but I hadn't heard the additional details. Thank you for all this additional information. It's a shame there isn't more material available.

Hess actually wrote 'The Secret Storm' after 'The Young Marrieds.' The Darmouth library records list the outlines for 'Storm' for around 1967-1968.

[BakerSq]

Here is more information on the novel The Young Marrieds. I have added pretty much all of the information based on the copy I have.

http://www.librarything.com/work/book/78977395

[DRW50]

Thank you so much. You've told us a lot about this show.