1 hour ago, Jdee43 said:

Frank and Doris Hursley, creators of GH, also created NBC's Bright Promise (1969-1972). The show was produced by Bing Crosby Productions, and Bing saved everything. Bing Crosby Productions produced many prime time shows like Hogan's Heroes and Ben Casey. Their assets are controlled by CBS/ Paramount. I believe Bright Promise was the company's only entry into daytime soap operas. It's too bad that when Retro TV was remastering The Doctors and looking for a companion show, they didn't look at Bright Promise to run.

Retro probably didn' t know about Bright Promise existing. The question is now who owns all the Bing Crosby productions? A quick search online and we find that CBS Paramount now owns all the BC television productions so they control Bright Promise. Dealing with them to aquire or digitize those tapes would be a massive headache. And an expensive venture. Could be why Retro didn't follow up with it.

On 6/15/2026 at 9:11 AM, titan1978 said:

Thanks for posting @Paul Raven

Fascinating to look at the turmoil going on just a few months before first Marland arrived, then Monty. They brought in a lot of new characters over the course of 1976-1978!

Except for Leslie as Monica, none of these folks are there anymore by early 1981 when they killed Diana. Had ABC or whoever pushed Valerie Starrett out waited a few months, things might have been very different. Marland and Monty wrote for Diana as if she was still a major player. With Starrett still there she might have had more impact in those stories and stayed.

I think had OG Diana remained past mid 1977, she still would have been written out because the show became more youth obsessed and also more interested in showcasing more complicated and darker characters. Her Diana would have mostly become background and/or written off past 1981..imho.

From watching the episodes from 1979 to early 1981, you saw Bundy's Diana slowly start to fight fire with fire. No way would 1977/1978 Diana of ever thought to date Jeff in order to secure custody of P.J/Steven Lars... she would have most likely been weepy and given the child back to Jeff.

The story had a lot of legs before it ended suddenly in Feb 1981 with her murder, and apparently it was due to Richard Dean Anderson deciding not to continue on the show and since Diana's character was tied to the Jeff/Heather orbit... there wasn't anywhere they could go with her in the short term so they killed her off.

The Jeff and Diana stuff seems to happen so quickly from what little is available of that last month of hers. Granted I've only watched various chunks of 1980, but Diana seems to spend a year relatively in the background clucking over her secret before bedding Jeff (somehow) shortly after Heather returns from the sanitarium in the form of Robin Mattson. What led up to it?

Edited September 24Sep 24 by Vee

3 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Her Diana would have mostly become background and/or written off past 1981..imho.

You are probably right. Bobbie Spencer becomes the nurse we follow through relationships and as a lead. And Bobbie had an edge, even if she was no longer as nasty as she was with Laura/Scotty.

Frisco returns for 3 shows in 1987.

A rarity containing all the original ABC daytime ads for the day's episode. 1985. Final episode for Petros Cassadine. He vowed to come back and get revenge on Scorpio but it never happened.

With original ABC daytime commercials January 15 1985

Edited September 26Sep 26 by MrEdge80s

This is Jack Wagner's final show until June 1989. On Thursday, December 10, 1987, GH was pre empted due to the final day of the 1987 Washington Summit with President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev This block cut out a full 28 minutes of that days WEST COAST GH as these full shows were all recorded in Los Angeles on KABC 7. So we only have the last 10 minutes of that days show. As a result I have combined it with the December 11 1987 show. At present no other video exists online for December 10 1987 that is more complete.

Edited September 26Sep 26 by MrEdge80s

It's not perfect, but I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

I wonder how different Felicia's time on GH would be if Jack Wagner had never left.

48 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I wonder how different Felicia's time on GH would be if Jack Wagner had never left.

Very good question! As early as 1986, they were teasing a Frisco and Felicia kid, which led me to consider the ripple effect. Would the F&F kid have been a boy, and if so, what would that mean for Lucas or Maxie?

I still need to write my recap of the week before the F&F wedding. When I eventually make it to 1988, it will be interesting to see how the show exists during Kristina's extended absence.

11 hours ago, Franko said:

I still need to write my recap of the week before the F&F wedding. When I eventually make it to 1988, it will be interesting to see how the show exists during Kristina's extended absence.

As a very little kid, I would see GH when it was on with my family but I wasn’t seeking it out myself. Seeing Frisco yank that hat off Felicia really caught my attention. They were the first soap characters I deliberately looked for, until Anna arrived and then I was hooked. As a teen Felicia was a really strong hook for me while Wendy Riche worked out the rough patches. Before the Karen/Jagger/Brenda/Robin/Jason/AJ era really kicked in, it was Felicia and Tracy that I was most interested in during that time.

It may be strange for more modern fans to know but Kristina Wagner was a major star on GH and Felicia was a very important character for that era. The story with Ryan was one of the few things that fully worked in 1992.

12 hours ago, DRW50 said:

I wonder how different Felicia's time on GH would be if Jack Wagner had never left.

Hard to imagine. They did a great job grounding Felicia for the 90’s with Ryan, her kids, and The Outback as well as being a part time PI. I think Frisco would have to leave the WSB behind and either been forced into being the main cop after the show lost Robert/Anna, or be moved fully into the music stories. I don’t think Mac would have survived Frisco never leaving. I also wonder if Sonny would have played out the same way because Frisco and Sonny at the same time doesn’t seem likely. Much like had Tristan Rogers taken Riche up on the offer to take a break and come back.

Sean Donnelly was in the second tier of leads and there was no way the show would write for him the same way they would Frisco or Robert. I have said this before but I have a hard time imagining Claire Labine writing Robert or Frisco as leads. Luke and Laura shared adventure and over the top stories, but both characters had more grounded foundations. Felicia was an Aztec princess though so maybe anything is possible (although the show really toned that down when the story was done, except for Sean calling her Princess).

4 hours ago, titan1978 said:

It may be strange for more modern fans to know but Kristina Wagner was a major star on GH and Felicia was a very important character for that era. The story with Ryan was one of the few things that fully worked in 1992.

Newer people don't always realize it. You don't have to look at more than one or two episodes from Kristina's return In '92 to realize how quickly she injected real spark and energy into the show, Frisco or no Frisco, and how she along with JL/Ryan and her easy, fun chemistry with JJY as Mac saved their bacon. That was certainly still there when I started watching when Luke and Laura returned. Mac and Felicia (with Robin) were part of the firmament, witty, sexy, fun.