NBC Daytime

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, you're right! And, Schemering writes of them all almost getting fired for cracking up on live TV. Dufour was to rush in & report that Chris had cracked up the plane. He was one of their husbands & it was a plane crash. But, what came out was "Chris crapped." He gurgled out "on the plane". They all fell completely apart & couldn't stop laughing. I love Val Dufour & stories about him. They say he knew everyone. He talked to Greta Garbo & he said she was an AW fan. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
typo

[danfling]

I think that Ms. Garbo was also a fan of Somerset.

Eugene Smith, who was playing a police lieutenant on that show recalled that she saw him and called him by his name on the program.

[Contessa Donatella]

Great! New info. Did he say where he saw her? 

[Contessa Donatella]

@danfling   

So, oddball soaps by Dan & Donna

Out of Philadelphia: NBC's Miss Susan & First Love.

On the DuMont network: Faraway Hill 1946, A Woman to Remember 1949 & The O'Neills 1949-1950.  

Out of Toronto: Moment of Truth NBC 1965 & High Hopes Syndicated 1978. 

Out of Ottawa: Strange Paradise Syndicated 1969.

Out of Atlanta & on Ted Turner's cable station: The Catlins TBS 1983.

Out of Virginia Beach & a Christian soap: Another Life CBN 1981. 

[Also in the early 80s Ted Turner wanted to expand by 4 more cable networks: Soaps, History & I don't remember the other two. Soaps did not make. History did.]

 

[Contessa Donatella]

This is a little weird. I just found this YT clip Classic DAYS 1991 with the title San Cristobol etc. 

 

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So, DAYS San Cristobol with an o an island. I am already aware of San Cristobel with an e and San Cristobal with an a, both islands, one AW & one GL. How the heck many soaps have an island named San Cristob*l? Is this 3 it now? Does anyone know how this name got to be so popular?!! 

[danfling]

Somerset was also a popular name for a town at one time.

On The Edge of Night, when Laurie Ann was in danger of being kidnapped, the Karr family had her to go live with someone (out of danger) in Somerset.

Then, of course, Somerset was another town on the show Another World.   Sam, Lahoma, Missy and Rickey moved there (at the beginning of the spin-off show).   Later, Robert Delaney moved to Bay City from Somerset.

I have long thought that Somerset was originally to have aired on CBS and been a spin-off of the highly successful (in ratings) The Edge of Night.   This was before Where the Heart Is premiered on CBS.

However, I have since been told that the original plan was to spin-off Somerset from Another World.   But, it was a funny coincidence that Somerset was often mentioned (along with Capital City) a neighboring town of both Monticello and Bay City.

[Contessa Donatella]

And, Rachel's other half-sister Pammy & her dad lived in Somerset, too. 

[Contessa Donatella]

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It was on this day in 1969 that Bright Promise debuted on NBC. This was the last show the Hursleys created before retiring. Gloria Monty was one of its Directors. Gail Kobe was one of its actresses. Dana Andrews was one of those few examples of Star Billing. Dabney Coleman was an actor. And, actors who would later show up on GH include Susan Brown, David Lewis, Tony Geary & Ann Jeffries. John Considine was in the cast & he later showed up on AW. 

[Paul Raven]

3 KCRA (NBC) Sacramento Friday, January 28, 1977

7:00 Today
9:00 Tattletales (pre-empted by KXTV)
9:30 Hollywood Squares - Panel: John Byner, Joan Rivers, Earl Holliman, Karen Valentine, Paul Lynde, Michael Constantine, George Gobel, Isabel Sanford, Paul Williams
10:00 Wheel of Fortune
10:30 Shoot for the Stars - Guests: Debralee Scott, Rick Hurst
11:00 Name That Tune
11:30 Lovers and Friends
11:55 NBC News Update
NOON Channel 3 Reports
12:30 Donahue (info unavailable)
1:30 Mary Hartman
2:00 Antoher World
3:00 Days of Our Lives
4:00 Sanford and Son

Doctors not shownat 1.30  Days moved to 3pm instead of 12.30 Sanford and Son at 4 not 10am and Gong Show not shown at 3pm.

[Jdee43]

Which is considered worst, the first four months of Texas in 1980 or the first four months of Santa Barbara in 1984? 

[Contessa Donatella]

No idea where to put this, so I'll put it here. 

IS THERE A "STAR" SYSTEM IN DAYTIME TV?
SPECIAL REPORT
By MICHAEL LOGAN
Long, long ago in a Hollywood few of us would remember the star stystem reigned. Not only did the Stanwycks and the Crawfords and the Gables grab the juiciest parts and the plumpest paychecks, they were also pampered with a glorious, unending shower of sweet status symbols. They drove better cars, wore better clothes and got top billing. They had high exposure, were treated better and they always got the better ringside table at The Coconut Grove. 
Maybe they don't make 'em like they used to (either the movies or the stars), but one thing hasn't changed. Hollywood is still desperately, hopelessly in love with the art of one-upmanship. The mega-watt stars in today's galaxy of films and primetime TV may be fewer in number and less luminous than their counterparts of yesteryear--but they are, by no means, gone with the wind. 
But what of daytime TV, that sudsy sector where a show can boast a cast of thirty-five or forty players, each anxiously seeking a share of the limelight? In a medium where most viewers would be hard-pressed to come up with the real life names of their favorite performers, could an honest-to-goodness, certifiable star system exist? 
"Any actor who thinks he is the star of a soap opera is deluding himself," insists DAYS OF OUR LIVES veteran Macdonald Carey (Tom Horton). "It just doesn't work that way." 
"Nobody pulls a star game around here," claims A Martinez, who plays Cruz Castillo on SANTA BARBARA. 
"The audience is the star system," says DAYS's Kristian Alfonso (Hope Brady). "That's who makes or breaks us." 
There are those who might scoff at Alfonso's modesty for she is, after all, the epitome of a soap opera star. She is extraordinarily beautiful (witness her recent cover of Redbook--unprecedented for a daytime actress), she has a phenomenal fan following and, for the third straight year, enjoys a prominent storyline on her series. In short, she is a prime candidate for the star system. 
But the gal who plays Hope Brady, to the delight of millions, just won't buy it. "Actors forget that they're just a piece of the show," she insists. 
Others disagree, believing that there definitely are certain daytime stars who rise above the rest--and are rewarded for it. Preferring anonymity, a Los Angeles press agent who specializes in soap actors says, "Many will deny it but a star system does exist. Just look at the cast of any show. Some actors will pull big money and others won't. They'll also be on the receiving end of lots of perks, very fancy leather couches and chairs, that type of thing. Within the casts, they certainly feel it. I don't think they're thrilled with it, but they cetainly feel it. It's not exactly what Hollywood had in the '30s and '40s though. Perhaps a better way to describe it--and this is a little pessimistic--is a pecking order. 
When I first got on (GENERAL HOSPITAL) two years ago, I certainly thought I saw it with Emma Samms (Holly Scorpio)," reveals Shelley Taylor Morgan (Lorena Sharpe). "Scuttlebutt had it that she was just the darling of ABC. And look at Susan Lucci (Erica Kane) on ALL MY CHILDREN. The network seems to promote her a lot, too."
Is the key, then, a big publicity push from the studio, the network or a soap's producer? Not according to CAPITOL's Catherine Hickland (Julie McCandless). "You are in an ensemble company," she says "and you are absolutely responsible for fending for yourself. As far as the network pushing a person, the only time that will happen is when your storyline is hot and they're publicizing their show. They're certainly not going to spend money publicizing you!"
Shelly Taylor Morgan agrees. "Business people do what they have to do to get their work done. If it's gong to benefit them to make nice over you, they're going to make nice over you. If it's not going to do them any good. You don't exist."
Certainly such prime time real estate as Joan Collins, Linda Evans, Larry Hagman and Victoria Principal have been well treated--and well ballyhooed--by their respective networks, indicating that the broadcasting companies can push for stars. But why don't they do likewise for daytime heavyweights? 
One network press agent refusing to be named, states flatly, "It doesn't behoove us to promote individual soap opera performers. if they want to be stars let them pay fir their own publicity. We're here to plug the show as a whole. If an individual actor or actress should benefit indirectly from our press work, great. But we don't owe anybody anything. They get a pretty fat paycheck to act, not be famous. Also, if one got publicity, then they'd all expect it. There would be no end to the hell."
"It's a dirty ballgame," says Gerald Gordon, daytime's first legitimate  superstar via his anti-hero Dr. Nick Bellini on THE DOCTORS. "Years ago we had an autonomy of people who ran a show, producers, directors and a network representative. Now we have committees that make the decisions. There's a lot of inside fighting upstairs that has nothing to do with the actors or the show. That's why, in some cases, they don't support, nurture and encourage people that they should."
Not one to mince words, Catherine Hickland believes, "Such mentality is sad. You really do need to build stars--but the producers can't because they're worried that, when another contract comes up, the star is going to ask for $1,000 more per show. 
Perhaps the first victim of such tunnel viasion was Rosemary Prinz, the much beloved Penny Hughes of AS THE WORLD TURNS. Her instant and overwhelming appeal caught the serial's producers by surprise--and they promptly frowned on Prinz taking advantage of her new-found notoriety. 
"They'd actually say, 'Oh, no! You can't do a talk show because you won't be Penny!'" Rosemary recalls. "They didn't even want the viewers to know there was such a thing as an actress. That's what we were up against." Today's would-be stars and valiant strugglers against the system have pioneers like Prinz to thank. "At least, now producers aren't stopping actors from doing other things. I'm sure people today don't stand for that!"
Prinz's co-star Eileen Fulton (Lisa McColl),  who is more than happy to acknowledge her love of publicity, remembers with horror, "We didn't even have a press department for soaps when I came on the show!" Fulton quickly took emergency measures by making friends with the boys in the nighttime press office. Before long, they were planting a variety of eye-catching photos and gossip items in newspaper across the country--making Eileen a full-fledged star.
To be fair, at least one soap producer--CAPITOL's John Conboy--is savvy to the promotional needs of his stars and has always maintained the services of an outside publicity firm. Bradley Lockerman, the show's Zed Diamond, says, "John's right on the beam. He's acutely aware of publicity and its power. He shows respect for that and has the wisdom, from an exec's point of view, to encourage it." 
Many more producers, though, fend off the possibility of a soap star system with a silver cross and necklace of garlic. No way, no how, are they willing to deal with the headaches. One head of a popular serial has frequently been heard around the set to announce, "I don't have leading women. I have leading men." Her disinterest in the former and glorification of the latter may be viewed as misogynic--but at least those actresses know what chances they have for stardom with her. 
It's the nature of the beast, however, that a riveting story line will propel certain actors to the forefront. Admits Catherine Hickland, "I haven't had a story in two years. Now I have two great storyline lines because I play twins. ... but, damn it, I've earned it. I know there's probably a lot of resentment from other actors because of it but, hey, I didn't complain when I was out of a story line because I understand the way that the structure of a soap opera works." 
And what would a desire to be King or Queen of the Mountain be without billing? Beverlee McKinsey parlayed her success as ANOTHER WORLD's Iris Carrington into an amazing, unheard of, just-under-the-title billing in the spinoff, TEXAS. Former film stars who resurface on soaps have better luck in this department--as could be seen in the star billing of Joan Bennet on DARK SHADOWS and Dana Andrews on BRIGHT PROMISE. Macdonald Carey, who is the only member of the star-studded DAYS OF OUR LIVES to receive special billing, recalls that it was a prerequisite for getting him to do the show in the first place. "I always had billing," he insists. "I never did a movie that I wasn't starring in--and I've done sixty-five of them." Equally unique is Carey's now classic narration that opens the serial, "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives"--yet another perk in his original contract negotiations. 
Eileen Fulton got smart on one of her several triumphant returns to ATWT and demanded--not unlike Joan Collins and Diahann Carrol on DYNASTY--that her name be placed at the end of the cast credits. "I fought for that tooth and nail!"she cackles. "I wanted the big 'And Eileen Fulton as Lisa Miller' because you see that is the longest!"
When writer Agnes Nixon created ALL MY CHILDREN in 1970, she hired Rosemary Prinz to kick off the show with a five month run as Amy Tyler. "She came to me with a very good offer--anything I wanted!" laughs Rosemary, who asked for billing and got it. "I did it for one reason. I thought that actors should be recognized." Oddly enough, it didn't create a trend. "I thought that other actors would demand it. Unfortunately, they didn't."
More than likely, they couldn't. It doesn't take a mental giant to realize that, with dozens and dozens of stars in each cast, it would take up half a show just to give credit where credit is due. "It would just get out of hand!" squeals Shelley Taylor Morgan. "Someone would ask for their name in a box, somebody else with an asterisk, then a bold print and a little print and then a polka-dot print...!"
Soaps like SANTA BARBARA, which aren't ratings blockbusters, are unlikely to be the breeding ground of large, money-hungry egos. "This is one of the least stratified groups of actors I've ever worked with," notes A Martinez. Nobody, he says, has the energy to worry about who has the best parking place or the most lavish costumes. The immediate concern is the survival of the series. "I think that's one of the reasons our show is working so well now."
"It's funny to see kids come onto the show one by one," says DAYS' Macdonald Carey. "When they have a heavy story line they think they are the stars. It's happened on our show time and time again. It's amusing at first and, then, it's rather sad." 
Adds Gerald Gordon, "The star system as we know it with myself, Tony Geary, who really peaked the system, and others is on the wane. The trend is now toward an ensemble."
Others, like Shelly Taylor Morgan, see evidence to the contrary and wouldn't mind a more generous slice of the pie. Admits the GH actress, "If I knew the key, honey, I'd buy into it!" 
Some, like Rosemary Prinz, have had more than their share--and just don't want it any more. "I wanted that star billing so badly. I really did!" she reveals. Now, she constantly nixes offers to return to her throne on daytime TV in favor of theatre work. "In this next phase of my career, I look back and think it was a silly fight. It's all so unimportant, so meaningless to me. It's nice to have things that count more." 
Kristian Alfonso may have all this stardom stuff in the best perspective of all. "If it's going to happen, it'll happen," she says. "I just worry about getting my lines out everyday!" 

Logan, M. (1986). Is there a star system on Daytime Television?: Special Report. Soap Opera Digest, 11(8), 26–31.

[Khan]

Good question.  I don't know what the soap press thought, but I would say that the first four (or more) months of SB were worse.  From what I've seen of TEXAS, its' beginnings weren't great, but it had "good bones," to use HGTV lingo.  It just needed better writing. 

SB, on the other hand, had problems in its' structure from the get.  The Dobsons clearly wanted a canvas that featured families from all walks of life, but two of the main families, the Perkins and Andrades, didn't work at all; and the two families that DID work - the Capwells and Lockridges - were hampered by some bizarre casting decisions, such as both actresses who played Laken and Judith Anderson (grande dame of the theater she might've been, but she was clearly not suited for daytime).  Also, tried as they might, but I don't think the show ever found the right actor to play C.C. Capwell, which is VERY unfortunate when you consider that C.C. was essentially the show's patriarch.

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, no. They only had 4 of him! And recasting one part that many times in pretty short order is, as GH's NuNuNuMolly can tell anyone who listens, is a great way to get fired. 

[te.]

I always got the impression that Texas's biggest issue was that it was so closely tied into Another World which made it hard to follow for any new viewers interested in checking a new soap out. They'd probably been better off just to start afresh once it was all moved over to Texas, but I guess that's the issue with spin-offs.

[Contessa Donatella]

I have always heard that the problem, period, full stop, with TEXAS! was with the writing. Patrick Mulcahey talked about their all being hired & assembled & the show not having anything for them to write yet so they stuck them with the AW writing team for a few months & he wrote for AW but was never credited with it on either IMDB or wikipedia which frustrated him to no end! They just sounded very disorganized to my ear & another thing they did was plan this all around Beverlee McKinsey's character Iris without first of all asking her if she was interested! By the time they did ask her they were far along in development & they inadvertently gave her this great negotiating advantage because they had to have her say yes! Between things Mulcahey said & Beverlee said in the "City Lights" interview I developed a strong impression of disorganization!