ALL: Errors, Myths, Omissions & Firsts that weren't

[Contessa Donatella]

I've just had a thought that has blown my mind. I don't know why I didn't think of it right off the bat. Perhaps you did. We may have an acid test, one named Debbi Morgan. Yes, this requires research. She played Dr. Angie Baxter-Hubbard in order on AMC, then Loving & last on The City. We already knew The City was spun off of Loving but we can now add Loving & AMC as sister soaps to each other. Right? I do not want to coin a new myth but isn't she the only one to have done this? 

Edited February 5, 2024 by Donna L. Bridges

[Contessa Donatella]

One of my posters on my forum asked Phideaux Xavier (dir, GH) & he said Loving/The City and Ryan's Hope are considered "spin-ons" by the network. I have no idea what that means. And obviously also it is hearsay. 

Edited February 6, 2024 by Donna L. Bridges
typos are always with us

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay, finally got the equivalency. Thanks to a GL & Venice fan who is part of #BirdTwitter. 

May 30, 1984 Steve & Betsy wed on ATWT. A 7.8 rating where each point equals 849,000 people comes to 6,662,200 people so really way below the "lie" of 20 million & well below Doug & Julie's 16 million, too! If anyone wants to check my math I will not be offended. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Okay @JAS0N47 has just done an analysis on this rating & blown us out of the water, Definitely it could, probably was, 20 million viewers! 

 

[vetsoapfan]

That's right. Liz Stewart fell while running up the stairs, and later died from the injuries she sustained.

Of course, critics have always been wont to mock and denigrate soaps, so they took the opportunity to ridicule ATWT by dishonestly spinning the situation as Liz "falling up the stairs." The character's being hurt while running upstairs is vastly different in meaning than purporting that she died by "falling up the stairs." I doubt the critics who started the myth/lie cared about accurately reporting the incident, and as time went on, the myth became established "fact" to those who didn't know any better.

I tend to agree. Particularly when characters cross over from  one series to another, I see those shows as being "related," so to speak.

Yes, Irna wanted to kill off Liz for a while, but P&G originally stopped her. So Ellen Stewart marched into the hospital and saved Liz with a "bottle of hope" (long story, LOL), and Liz survived that first attempt to kill her off.

Edited February 25, 2024 by vetsoapfan

[vetsoapfan]

At various times over the years, Harding Lemay was guilty of this too, claiming that AW went to number one during his tenure, when in actuality, it mainly went to number one IN ITS TIMESLOT.

Y&R fans have also long asserted (erroneously) that Paul infected Nikki with an STD. In reality, she gave it to him. (Doug Davidson has jokingly lamented the besmirching of his character's reputation more than once.)

On Another World, fans (and even Harding Lemay) put forward the myth that Pat Matthews killed her first boyfriend, Tom Baxter, by stabbing him. In reality, she shot him. (episodes surrounding the story have surfaced.)

Daytime TV's past is inundated with mistakes and myths, alas.

Exactly. The typical atrocious writing was mean-spirited and sadistic, and alienated legions of fans. You don't kill off the show's beloved matriarch by ramming doughnuts down her throat (sick and repugnant). Forgetting any of this dreck ever happened was the best course to take.

[Lye-C]

Alice deserved it.

And I have to give JER credit for having the balls to go there.

As a JER first and foremost and a Days fan third (behind Passions), I absolutely loved that storyline.

BTW, Days’ ratings went UP during the Salem Stalker storyline. Clearly people liked it. As far as I’m concerned that was Days’ last great storyline. The show has been a shadow of its former self since Corday forced JER to do Melaswen.

 

It didn’t make sense because it wasn’t supposed to happen. The dead were meant to stay dead.

[vetsoapfan]

Of course  she did.

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We know.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Bing CoPilot (AI) when asked what the definition is of a sister soap:

In the context of US daytime soap operas, sister soaps are soap operas 

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Also I asked a few people in email & the only one who replied was Eddie Drueding & he said that they share the same "parents" when those parents are the HW & the EP. He gave the example of Pete Lemay & Paul Rauch on AW & on Lovers & Friends.

[will81]

To clarify, and I guess this is another error to add to the list. Erica's abortion happened the week of May 10, 1971 before Roe vs. Wade but after New York had made it legal with certain stipulations.

Erica tells Jeff that she wants an abortion, he is almost on board until his father Joe talks him out of it. Erica tells him to either arrange one by proper means (meaning in New York) or she would seek one by improper means (In Pine Valley) He doesn't and she does.

[Contessa Donatella]

So, Erica's abortion was an illegal one? 

Now I wonder whether SFT/Kathy or AMC/Erica was first. Thanks for this info. Honestly as many different ways & from as many different sources I've heard or read about Erica's abortion it has never been said that it was not a Roe v Wade abortion! And many times it specified that it was. 

[will81]

Yeah the misconception was that it was 1973, but after we got so much synopsis from the Daytime Serial Newsletter, it became clear it had happened earlier and many assumed 1972. I was surprised to learn it was 1971 and only 5 months after Jeff and Erica were married (they wed in Dec 1970). Their divorce isn't finalised until April 1974.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

So, it goes like this: 

AW 1st abortion, illegal, Pat Matthews, no abortion anywhere was legal

SFT 1st legal abortion, Kathy Phillips traveled from Hendersons to NYC, Sept. 1970

AMC 2nd illegal abortion Erica May 1971 

[janea4old]

I remember this. I watched this storyline on TV when it first aired.  I remember the dialogue about New York being a place where it was legal.

I was mystified when people were posting here that it was 1972 or 1973.

Edited February 25, 2024 by janea4old

[Paul Raven]

I'm not sure why you are stating that Kathy on SFT had an abortion in Sept 1970. Kathy was not even on the show until 1971.