I know most of the P&G soaps were originally live until the late 60s/mid 70s. Back in 75 I remember sitting with my grandmother watching her favorite soap atwt..it must have been a serious moment between the female actresses that played jennifer and kim because they were squared off in an argument..kim walked a few steps, tripped over a footstool and fell flat on her face. jennifer couldn't help but burst out laugh and I had NEVER seen my granny laugh that hard.

I remember minor incidents like people dropping things, tripping over words, actors collapsing in giggle fits lol.

Edited December 21, 201113 yr by Kendall

I didn't realize the P&G soaps were live quite that late--though I know they used live organ music into the 70s. A lot of soaps from the 60s--I think including Days of Our Lives and certainly Dark Shadows, One Life, etc, were never live but were live to tape, with retakes only for major huge issues (in the case of Dark Shadows it was so cheap they never even seemed to bother).

I didn't realize the P&G soaps were live quite that late--though I know they used live organ music into the 70s. A lot of soaps from the 60s--I think including Days of Our Lives and certainly Dark Shadows, One Life, etc, were never live but were live to tape, with retakes only for major huge issues (in the case of Dark Shadows it was so cheap they never even seemed to bother).

I believe atwt ended it's live broadcasting around 75/76 because I immediately noticed the difference. I remember when Search For Tomorrow did a special "live" taping in the early 80s (though it had already stopped in the late 60s) and it made headlines for other reasons lol.

Edited December 21, 201113 yr by Kendall

ATWT and EON were the last soaps to be live up till 75.

I don't know the reasoning behind this,as by this time all other soaps were 'live on tape',meaning they were performed'live' but there was the possibility of stopping the tape if a mistake occurred.

However,it would have to be a serious mistake as stopping the tape was, at that time, a costly procedure.

It amazes me that they were live till so late, actually. Had they started using pre-recorded music cues by then? (I assume yes)

(in the case of Dark Shadows it was so cheap they never even seemed to bother).

Which is one reason why I HATE that particular show to this day. That, and the fact that Gordon Russell, Sam Hall and the other writers had a nasty habit of taking stories that were convoluted already and stretching them out to the point of making them excruciating to watch.

ATWT and EON were the last soaps to be live up till 75.

I don't know the reasoning behind this,as by this time all other soaps were 'live on tape',meaning they were performed'live' but there was the possibility of stopping the tape if a mistake occurred.

However,it would have to be a serious mistake as stopping the tape was, at that time, a costly procedure.

According to EDGE OF NIGHT Homepage, EDGE held out for as long as it did because Erwin Nicholson believed switching to tape would undermine actors' performances.

Which is one reason why I HATE that particular show to this day. That, and the fact that Gordon Russell, Sam Hall and the other writers had a nasty habit of taking stories that were convoluted already and stretching them out to the point of making them excruciating to watch.

LOL that's a fair point, although I think both Hall and especially Russell did great work on it as well. Agnes must have been a fan--to SOME extent, or at least paid attention, since the show comes up randomly in many interviews (albeit more in regards to things like how she wished she had done what Dan Curtis did and saved videotapes, etc)--and she did choose and groom Russell to take over OLTL (I assume, but have no idea, Hall came a bit later, maybe Russell recommended him...) It would be great to know more about Russell and his background--all I really know is he worked on those two shows and died fairly suddenly and relatively young. Hall did those fairly recent interviews, so we know more...

Edited December 21, 201113 yr by EricMontreal22

So (and I'm sure I could find this out in my various history books at home, but whatevs) did Edge shoot live up until their switch from CBS to ABC? And did ATWT shoot live until they expanded to an hour?

General hospital must have been one of the first to do a taped show since it started in April 1963 when a lot of the soaps were still live. i assume it was taped. I know it was black and white and i think a half hour or 45 minutes.

One Life to Live did "live week" back in 2002. It was pretty amazing that not a lot of mishaps happend. Especially since Erika Slezak played Niki being Viki and then she did a funny bit where she was alone and dressed all up as Niki dancing around. and then at the end of the final episode she went from Niki back to real Viki. and Kassie Depavia's Blair had to do a heart wrenching scenes where she confrotned Todd about giving her baby away. It actually won the daytime emmy for best show for it's Live week.

General hospital must have been one of the first to do a taped show since it started in April 1963 when a lot of the soaps were still live. i assume it was taped. I know it was black and white and i think a half hour or 45 minutes.

One Life to Live did "live week" back in 2002. It was pretty amazing that not a lot of mishaps happend. Especially since Erika Slezak played Niki being Viki and then she did a funny bit where she was alone and dressed all up as Niki dancing around. and then at the end of the final episode she went from Niki back to real Viki. and Kassie Depavia's Blair had to do a heart wrenching scenes where she confrotned Todd about giving her baby away. It actually won the daytime emmy for best show for it's Live week.

I think they won on the very same week that they were live, so they've won for their work in 2001.

I think they won on the very same week that they were live, so they've won for their work in 2001.

Yes you are right, sorry. They should have won the next year for being live. I don't know a soap that has done that for a whole week except back when they were live in the old days.

And was it GH that ended the era of 'live tape'? When Gloria Monty took over in 78 she started tape editing and shows began to tape out of sequence.

How soon did other shows follow that practice?

Rosemary Prinz (Penny Hughes, ATWT) wanted the show to deal with the death of the country's president John F. Kennedy in 1963. "When Kennedy died, there was four days of complete television coverage, Friday to Monday, and it was just —the nation was in this deep mourning. It was just 9/11, for four days. And when we got back on Tuesday, I said, “We can’t just have a scene without mentioning what we’ve all been through.”" "They said, “Oh, no, we can’t do that. Just do the script.” So I started a scene with Grandpa, and of course it’s LIVE, what are they going to do? So I said, “Grandpa, here we are talking about Tommy, and after all the country’s been through for the last four days.” I got in what I had to say. And then they all rushed down from the control room and I said, “Oh God, I just said the first thing that came into my head!”" "Irna got even with me in the end. I couldn’t wait for my contract to be over —I paid the analyst, I got un-crazy and I didn’t want to do the show anymore. And so Irna had me steal my brother’s child and go off to England. So this heroine is suddenly doing this terrible thing."" "I was supposed to be this monument of goodness."

Wow Irna was no joke back in the day lol.

Edited December 26, 201113 yr by Kendall

I always love Rosemary Prinz stories.