ALL: From Daytime to Primetime...and back again

[Franko]

Adding Robin Strasser to the list. She definitely made the rounds during her 1987-93 absence from OLTL. On the other hand, almost all of those roles were guest shots. I don't know if she did any pilots.

[Contessa Donatella]

Kim Zimmer did a 2 show arc as a reporter on Babylon 5 & a stand-out episode of Designing Women.

[Faulkner]

Michelle Stafford (along with Finola Hughes) was on Pacific Palisades and did a few guest spots between her first couple of Y&R stints.

Vanessa Marcil slipped in stints on BH90210 and her leading part on Las Vegas during her breaks from GH.

[Contessa Donatella]

LOVED Pacific Palisades! Also ... same time period ... Dana Delaney. Pensacola? No. I'll think of it. 

[Franko]

Oh, yes, we can't forget Kim, who was apparently thisclose to being the female lead on Evening Shade.

Pasadena, Donna. (Sounds like I'm singing.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasadena_(TV_series)

[Contessa Donatella]

PASADENA, DONNA. Wait. 

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Yep, thanks, Pasadena! It & Pacific Palisades should both have been hits. Also Kindred, the Embraced. 

Nancy Lee Grahn also did a two arc bit on Babylon 5. 

[Liberty City]

Kim Delaney: Starred on All My Children as Jenny Gardner (1981–1984), went on th appearance in roles on NYPD Blue and Army Wives, and then returned to daytime as Jackie Templeton on General Hospital (2020–2021).

[Paul Raven]

Our House was a minor success, if anything and the fact that Deidre tried to do both shows points to the fact that she knew the value of Marlena to the public. And the TV movie traded on her 'fame' from Days/Marlena.

I wonder about the contractual situation? Was she free to leave if she landed a primetime show and was it part of that contract she had to fulfill some obligation to Days? 

By 91 Our House was over and she was just another lady trying to find a decent gig along with scores of others. She was probably more than ready to resume as a daytime queen and they sweetened the deal with $$$ and that vague promise of a spin off.

As for Susan, she was savvy enough to know that her USP was Erica. If she had have split from AMC she might have been lucky enough to land a pilot, which might have been picked up and maybe lasted a season etc . Pretty sure she negotiated those TV movies as a condition to staying on AMC.

[Khan]

Truthfully, if Susan Lucci had any chance of building a career outside of AMC and daytime, it was in the '80's, when primetime soaps and Aaron Spelling-produced fluff like "Hotel" were still the going thing in primetime TV.  Even a gig on "L.A. Law," which was glossier and soapier than most of Steven Bochco's other shows, wouldn't have been out of the question.  But if the goal was to be on, say, "thirtysomething"?  Love ya, Looch, but no way, lol.

[Paul Raven]

Marcy Walker 

After AMC and SB there was Palace Guard a short lived CBS series, a few TV movies then back to daytime with GL and AMC again.

[applcin]

Genie Francis departed GH and did "Bare Essence" and "North and South" before she came on as Diana on DOOL.

Roy Thinnes did primetime, then GH in the 60s, then a bunch more primetime, then his first stint on OLTL (Alex Crown), then primetime again, then OLTL again (Sloan Carpenter), then primetime again.

[kalbir]

I am actually surprised ABC didn't try to make happen Susan Lucci in a short arc on Dynasty at the height of its popularity (Fall 1982 to Spring 1985). She had guest starred on Love Boat and Fantasy Island so Aaron Spelling was aware of her. Susan Lucci, the diva of all divas of daytime, vs. Joan Collins, the diva of all divas of 1980s primetime soaps, would have been the most epic diva battle ever.

Speaking of which, Susan Lucci and Joan Collins both appeared on a celebrity Family Feud special in 1982.

 

[Khan]

Watching the FF "Heroes vs. Villains" special, I notice three things:

1. The show's producers tapped Beatrice Straight to play on the "Villains" side, merely because they needed a fifth member there and did not know of anyone else who could fill that slot.  (Otherwise, I would hardly label her one scene role on "Network" as villainous, lol.)

2. It must be very early in Joan Collins' run on "Dynasty," before Alexis became the breakout character, because she gets about as much applause from the audience as Leonard Frey, Straight and Norman Fell do.  Lucci is the "villain" who gets the biggest round of applause (including shouts and cheers).

3. Did they place Straight between Collins and Lucci for visual reasons, or...? 

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Given that both Joan Collins and Susan Lucci were on hugely popular ABC soaps (one daytime, one primetime), I think it could have been awesome if the network had worked out some sort of arrangement where the two could crossover to each other's shows.  It would not have needed to be anything major in terms of storyline, like Erica suddenly taking over ColbyCo or anything, but maybe just a brief cameo, like her showing up at La Mirage and having Fallon introduce her to Blake and Krystle, or Alexis showing up in NYC to ask her "old friend" Mike Roy whether he would like to ghostwrite her memoir.

As crazy as this sounds, I think they missed the (love) boat when they had Lucci on but did not have her play someone whom Gopher develops a little crush on.  Lucci's character wouldn't have needed to return his affections, though.  Just a little peck on his cheek at the end, telling him how she flattered she is and how very special she thinks he is, that's all.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Khan

[Khan]

For me, "Our House" was nothing special, just something I watched whenever the NFL ran overtime and pre-empted "60 Minutes."

Ironically, for someone who fought hard at the beginning to be seen as more than just an "ethnic type," many of Susan Lucci's TV movies and miniseries seemed to trade on her Italian-American looks and background.  I mean, she was "Mafia Princess" and "Lady Mobster"!  Not to mention, she played Italians with (questionable) Brooklyn accents on "The Bride in Black" and on "Double Edge," a TV movie that did the impossible: drained all the chemistry between her and Robert Urich.

Oof!  "The Palace Guard"!  Not one of Stephen J. Cannell's finer moments!

Remember when MW co-starred in a TV movie with Genie Francis, Leigh J. McCloskey and, strangely enough, Victoria Wyndham?  IIRC, MW's character was this garden-variety psycho who was obsessed with Francis and McCloskey's characters for some reason; and at one point, she even kills Wyndham's character, who was friends with Genie, to keep her from...I don't remember what.  The plot's a bit hazy for me after all this time, but I still remember watching it and thinking, "This is too surreal.  Eden Colby/Liza Capwell is chasing after Laura Spencer and the dude who raped her (Eden), and now she's killed Rachel Cory.  It's like being on a soap opera acid trip!"

She would have fit in much better with that cast, I think, than Marilu Henner.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Khan

[tune_in_tomorrow]

Leann Hunley (Anna, DAYS) left around the time she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in '86. She did some guest shots - Designing Women, Hotel among them - then landed a regular gig during the last 2 seasons of Dynasty. She also had a key supporting role on Dawson's Creek, before returning on a recurring basis to DAYS. Even with the Emmy, I always thought she was underrated as she handled heavy drama/somewhat villainous in her early tenure before switching to some comic relief when paired with the hijinks of Arleen Sorkin (Calliope), but I think she ended up with a pretty good post-DAYS run in primetime before she aged out of good roles and returned.