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[j swift]

There is one other irony: William Christian is forced to re-audition for the role of Derrick Frye (AMC) once he went from recurring to contract.  Christian stayed for 15 years as Det. Frye in Pine Valey until he was recast.  

[soapfan770]

Thanks for sharing the 1990 stuff with us so much, I really appreciate it! 

 

 

It's amazing to think to that 1990, aside from Y&R and well to an extent ATWT, all the soaps were in state of transition and moving into a new uncertain decade, Even Ken Corday didn't think Days would make it another 25 years when interviewed by SOD in 1990 on Days' 25th anniversary. I think a lot of Days, GH, and AMC fans were always the ones to populate SOD and given how many times Days won at the Soapy's I can see why the rag would spread their news the most, especially given how hard the show fell in 1992 before its 1993 renaissance. 

[Franko]

I didn't know Ken felt that way. I guess we'll be reading about that next week. For what it's worth, Days is only just past its 53rd birthday. I doubt it will reach its 60th.

[j swift]

Judy Evans went through a lot of changes in the 90's but she kept that haircut for most of the decade.  I wondered if she was always planned as a Paulina replacement or did AW have different plans for Judy in the Jake murder mystery as mentioned in the article?  She was such an abrupt change in type that I wonder how it was pitched to her and the network?  As for AMC, I am on the lookout for if they cast any Judy Evans-types in the next six months of this SOD timeline. 

 

Three better questions for John Conboy circa 1990; right off the top of my head: (1) New World is going through massive changes, did they make a commitment to continue to produce SB when you were hired (New World sold out to Sony one year later)?  (2) Given the Dobson's issues with finding the right Pamela Capwell, did you negotiate final say on casting? (3) Given the loss of the headwriter, proposed changes in sets, and the abrupt ending of her stories, how do you maintain momentum in daily storytelling? - the whole pretext of the story is that SB is near cancellation, but SOD treats it as if ratings were the only issue, which is odd given their coverage of the Dobsons in prior issues in the same year.  In retrospect, it looks like New World wanted out of making live-action TV in order to focus on their successful Marvel cartoons, and NBC may have wanted to put Conboy in as a placeholder, either while he developed other projects or to keep from developing projects for other networks.  

 

 

 

[Franko]

The story I've heard was that Paulina was written with Judi in mind and that TPTB always considered Cali Timmins to be a placeholder.

 

I'm probably wrong, but the timeline makes me think AMC wanted Judi to play Hayley.

 

Those are good questions. Speaking of shows nearing the finish line, it's going to be interesting how SOD covers Generations' finale.

[j swift]

Besides Ms. Quatro's mystifying ability to maintain a career in the UK, (including a stint on Skating with the Stars in 2014), here's a fact to blow your mind - Kathy Hilton (mother of Paris, sister of Kim and Kyle) was one of the Leatherettes on Happy Days.

[EricMontreal22]

But New World continued to do live action--Bold and the Beautiful of course, the Aussie soap that they hoped would cross over Paradise Beach in '93 (where Ingo Rademacher got his start), a significant number of primetime things...  Which Marvel cartoons did they do?  I see a brief Hulk one around that era...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Pictures#Films_and_television_series_each_season

[j swift]

After acquiring Marvel, New World didn't have a lot of cash on hand but they were attractive to takeovers.

 

From the same Wiki you referenced, but up a little further, we see this detail:

 

The bulk of its film and home video holdings were sold in January 1990 to Trans-Atlantic Pictures, a newly formed production company founded by a consortium of former New World executives.  Highgate Pictures and Learning Corporation of America were shut down in 1990.  On October 7, 1991, New World sold much of its "network" assets to Sony Pictures Entertainment. Some television programs produced by New World such as Santa Barbara and The Wonder Years would remain in production by the company until their cancellations in 1993; New World would not return to producing programs for the major broadcast television networks until early 1995.

 

My point being that any reputable journalist in 1990 should have asked the incoming producer about the solvency of the company financing the show.

Judi was a little long in the tooth to play 18-year-old Hayley; maybe Arlene?

[Franko]

Eh, 26 playing 18 isn't that unusual. On the other hand, the trajectory of her roles would be a little screwy. Late teenager Beth Raines to young mother Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis to late teenager Hayley Vaughn. 

[j swift]

I just thought of one other John Conboy question for 1990: - He worked on Capitol, and SB, and now was creating a new drama, does (did) he prefer the 30 minute or 60 minute time slot for a new soap? 

[cct]

 

This is all so random. I love it. 

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[j swift]

We've jumped ahead a few issues to November 13, 1990

 

The proposed Matt Weiss character was not only causing discussion between those of us on this thread, but also random mothers were calling GL asking to cast their sons.

 

It is so old-fashioned that SOD's most scathing criticism is done by the anonymous Diva von Dish.  Included in Diva's Most Outrageous Moments of 1990 is Jennifer (DAYS) use of a diaphragm during sex on a deserted island,  and Cricket's (Y&R) not-so-risque dance during Danny Romalotti's summer Save the Environment concert (while she was in law school).  

 

The big news of the week is that Gloria Monty is returning to GH and Terry Lester made a mysterious exit from Santa Barbara. 

 

Kin (always up for a quote by phone) Shriner is so excited that he compares to Gloria to Martin Scorcese.  Spoiler Alert: Mr. Shriner might want to dial it back a bit because Scotty is only used as a baddy in the Bill Eckert story and does not get a lot of good scenes.  Reasons reported for Joe Hardy's exit include the complete f-up of the Dawn story, (including that her leading man Dekker left the show for 6 weeks soon after the part was recast 3 times), the f-up of Duke's return as Greg Beecroft, the f-up of the alien story, he yelled at unnamed actors for not knowing their lines, and finally the cast shaded him by not showing up to a press event for the 7,000th show.  Did Joe Hardy ever work again?  Because it always interesting to me that Michael Watson got a job on B&B after his tumultuous time on GH.

 

Terry Lester gives a story that defines cockamamie.  He came to SB because it was his "final resolution for a decade" which is odd given that SB premiered in 1984.  We all recall that he left Y&R in a huff because Cricket was getting all of the good stories.  Maybe Terry wanted to dance in Danny's summer concerts?  Anyway, a year later and a "clerical error" happened and his contract was not re-negotiated so he left.  The next page is about the cast "purge" at SB, but we are assured that Terry left under the best of circumstances (right before a planned sweeps storyline).  Good news, Marcy Walker assures us that she is staying with SB, unless there is a serious conflict with her primetime work.  Bad News, there's going to be a serious conflict with primetime work soon.

 

[Franko]

Nah, we didn't miss anything. SOD was biweekly. Last week's posts related to the Oct. 30 issue.

[Franko]

11/13/90

She's baack! Gloria Monty's return to General Hospital was earlier than I expected. Once again, she's inheriting a shaky show. Anna's without a serious mate. Dawn's running out of momentum as a would-be leading character. The cast is revolting and the exodus is beginning (so long, Dr. Davis). Speaking of that, I cringed at Jennifer Anglin signing a two-year contract. Cheryl will be gone by February and killed off in November 1992. Also awkward in hindsight, Kin Shriner's insistence that under Gloria, GH will be the Twin Peaks of 1991. Twin Peaks, of course, was cancelled that year.

 

Then again, if you want to talk about a cast exodus, look to Santa Barbara. Terry Lester celebrates two consecutive years of awkward departures. Also, I love that SOD made sure to mention Roscoe Born's contract had seven more months to go. He'd soon be followed out the door by Marcy Walker and Carrington Garland. On the other hand, Janis Paige has arrived and Nancy Lee Grahn and Judith McConnell will indeed stick around.

 

Guiding Light, the favorite soap of Jewish stage mothers and soon to be sans Michael O'Leary, gets the primer for this issue. It's #4 in the series, following ATWT, DOOL and OLTL. Assuming the patterns stick, the next one's going to be either SB or Another World.

 

Spoiler Alert: Charlie Brent did come back to AMC. Hayley "Wells" is teased, and I think Brian Bodine is, too. Speaking of AMC, today I learned Palmer and Opal were married on the same day as part one of Cord and Tina's third wedding. And hey, a shout out to the infamous "Bobby's cap" scene!

 

Primetime Spoiler Alert: Jason on Knots Landing ended up not being a bad-news boyfriend. There's that hindsight again ... the show that "just never misses a beat" is getting closer to a backstage shakeup. 

 

Patsy Pease, no longer making headlines for her Days walkoff, is now singled out for the limited information about her son's birth.

 

Factual Error: Ricky Paull Goldin turned down the chance to play Steve "Kowalsky" on Loving. Also, hearing somebody having a "falling out" makes me think of Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm going to assume RPG and Charlotte Ross got into a fight over Post-Its.

 

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who liked the beach castle Knots Landing opening.

 

Any week now, we'll be getting the "NBC cancels Generations" article. Followed by "Tony Geary's back," "Judi Evans is gone for good," etc.

[j swift]

Didn't he have an agent?  How does a contract go unnegotiated and nobody noticed?

 

Gordon Thompson started immediately after Terry, but SOD teased that Lane might return, which tells me that they didn't know anything and were blindsided.  Also, if they are so concerned about the SB cast then why didn't they ask John Conboy about it in the last issue?  I always think it is odd when soap actors quit over storylines, writers come and go, stories change, why make a fuss?

 

My new guessing game is trying to figure out the blind items in retrospect - which Bauer is going to be recast?  I have no idea.

 

What was the primetime Sons and Daughters and did they ever show the pilot?

 

Also, I'm trying to figure out why Tribes was always summarized in the Breaking News section and not given its own page?  Maybe it had to do with lead times for publication?  

That's right, I forgot that SOD was semi-monthly until SOW came along

loved every minute of it, it was so LA at the time