What classic soap would you pay to stream? Would you pay a monthly fee to stream all the P&G Soaps?

Mary Worth.

Santa Barbara

Ryan's Hope

I'd watch any of the CBS soaps, starting with Y&R, Guiding Light, ATWT, and Bold and the Beautiful.

If they edit them to speed up the story lines a bit, even better.

I imagine it would be comforting, listening to to those old familiar faces.

Was there a character named Noel on ATWT? Maybe in the 80s? Or maybe on Guiding Light.

1989 Bold and the Beautiful

Carolyn Jones run on Capitol

Early Ryan's Hope

Early Loving

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

Dark Shadows

Muchacha Italiana Viene a Casarse

Answering myself at R4, Nola Reardon!

When I was a kid she reminded me a bit of Judy Garland. Looking at recent photos, I can see why.

There is a lot of soap opera info lost in my brain, waiting to be unearthed.

Okay, then, R8:

Corazón Salvaje, with the beautiful dearly departed Edith Gonzalez and Eduardo Palomo.

Damn, they’re both gone now 😢🥺

I'd happily watch Edge of Night again.

Would also love to watch Guiding Light from the late 70s into the mid 80s.

And also some of Doug Marland's run on As The World Turns, circa 1986 or 1987.

AW during the Harding Lemay years, including 1988-90/91 (not sure exactly when his new bible ran out).

ATWT during the Marland years, and then again when Lisa sued John. It's too painful to watch after that, and I'm quite certain my devices would explode if the names Felicia Minei Behr and Mickey Against Daytime Drama were to suddenly appear on their screens.

GL from 1988-93. Not sure of all the writers. And probably some of the years before that. I wasn't watching soaps before 1988.

Faggetabout it. P&G is ashamed of their soaps.

Is someone really interested in putting a Midwestern Marvels streaming package together? There are now two threads asking us about it.

R7 Dark Shadows is all over the place. It's currently on the Decades channel, two episodes nightly. And it's also streaming 24/7 on Pluto TV Channel 535. (I've also read it's on something called Tubi, but I don't get that.) You can also buys seasons of it on Amazon Prime.

R13 P&G was still using some third party marketing company to try to sell ATWT and GL abroad at MIPCOM a few years back.

Vee from SON is trying to market my stories.

I would love to relive Y&R and B&B from the mid-'80s to '90. Terry Lester, Darlene Conley...and the final days of Brendad Ickson as Jill. Good stuff.

Soap operas are dead. No one is going to revive old episodes. Get real, fat fraus.

I mentioned this on another thread yesterday - the "What are you into these days" one - that I began watching The Edge of Night on youtube since COVID, starting with the July 16, 1979 episode.

They're numbered - this one is #6050 - and I've been watching them in order since.

Did the press report on Dennis Parker's porn career or was it kept hush hush?

I agree with "Capitol" from the beginning, especially to see Carolyn Jones as Myrna Clegg, walking up the steps, being ignored (which she WILL NOT BE!), and sweeping everything off the desk of the clerk. A good portion of the first year is not very good with a lot of one dimensional characters, but Jones is delightfully campy. The writing got better ironically after its first year when Marj Dusay took over as Myrna, and it was really good when Julie Adams came on as the psychotic Paula Denning. The last year of the show is only worth seeing for the cast. The Locher Room reunion with Constance Towers, Catherine Hickland and Nicholas Walker airs today at 2 PM.

Others that would be interesting to me would be "Edge of Night" (pre-1979, especially the introduction of the Whitney family), "Secret Storm" and "Love of Life", as well as "Another World" and "Days of Our Lives" before it got too weird. I'd watch early "Y&R", but from my memory, compared to other soaps, it could be sleep inducing, and Jamie Lyn Bauer's Lorie did a ton of whining. I have a disc of her early stuff, and I had a migraine after watching it.

I watched some AMC on you tube recently and more than half of it is unwatchable. Bad acting, stupid story lines, one dimensional characters. For the life of me, I can't understand how people were hooked on the cheap drama for decades.

R23 I have to agree. I don't think "AMC" holds up like other shows because the characters can really get on your nerves after a while. Even Phoebe, whom I love, got to become an absurd cliché of the powerfully wealthy woman. She should have gone into business and have been a real tiger in the boardroom rather than just the meddling aunt/grandmother. Her own children either died or moved just to get away from her. Still Ruth Warrick was very funny, but Katharine Chancellor she was not. I got quickly tired of Erica's re-tread story of finding the new love of her life, knowing that in 2 years she'd be on to something new. But Palmer's story was intriguing with the Gothic mystery, and he had a great ensemble to work with. For the most part, Adam Chandler was never as intriguing as PC, as Daisy called him, Dobermans and all.

[quote] Was there a character named Noel on ATWT? Maybe in the 80s? Or maybe on Guiding Light.

There was Neal Alcott (a woman) on ATWT but I can't say that I remember a Noel on either show.

P&G's libraries only go back to 1979.

R15 Tubi is free. You can watch it on a smart tv, smart phone or computer.

I’d love to see 90s DAYS again. With the advent of meme culture, I could actually see it getting a following again.

I mean, obviously we would all want to see THE Guiding Light.

I'll second R28 Days from about 92-99.

But everything that I REALLY REALLY want to see was wiped. Basically anything from the mid 60s-the mid 70s.

I'd really like to see Another World from the beginning. The Connie Ford and Robin Strasser years. But since they were wiped I'd settle for the Wyndham years, up until about the end of the Carmen Duncan era.

Y&R the early years with the original Snapper — William Gray Espy, Donnelly Rhodes as Philip Chancellor Sr, when Jill was a good girl.

Santa Barbara!

Ryan’s Hope with the original Delia, Ilene Kristen and Malcolm Groome.

OLTL’s golden years in early 90s

You can still find snippets on YT uploaded by soap nerds, consisting of audio they taped off TV when they were kids.

R7 The "Dark Shadows" movie is on TCM today.

Portia Faces Life

R35 I don't like that one, at all.

The Doctors must be in syndication. I've been running into old episodes on RetroTV, one of those over the air digital subchannels.

Yes, The Doctors is on Retro TV and has a subscriptions service. See link.

The prissy queen VetSoapFan is a moron about TGL. Asshole.

Because I am a late Baby Boomer, the soaps I remember are from the 1970s on. In fact this past Christmas I was watching old soap episodes.

Especially Edge of Night with the Logan Raven baby custody story from the late 1970s. So when Forrest Compton died of Covid-19 it was something that I had just seen him earlier as Mike Karr on Edge of Night.

It would be nice to bring back the classic episodes of the old soaps. But at least some soaps are on YOUTUBE.

I would want to watch, based on pure hype having missed it due to being a toddler or child...

The Jenny / Greg / Liza / Jesse / Angie era on AMC

The Karen Wolek saga on OLTL

The Douglas Cummings mystery on ATWT

Santa Barbara in its prime

I think a lot of this is euphoric recall. Meaning its not as good as we think it is. My husband is a huge Dark Shadows fan. For his birthday I bought him the complete box set. He was so excited and settled in for the next 2 years. LOL. About a month later I realized he has put it away. I asked him why. He said its sort of boring to be honest. I just don't think there is the audience day in and day out anymore for this kind of thing.

R42 Yeah, there can be that element.

The problem is to really get the impact of a big reveal, you have to watch all the scenes for buildup. And forty years ago we all had the time to do that. Now, the in between scenes feel like the filler they were and are.

One life to Live all the years but mostly the mid 80’s - mid 90’s!!!

Days 90’s! B&B the shelia years

I personally think the PG soaps were at their worst when they first switched to hour. The writers didn't know how to write an hour and were learning on the job and those shows were slow as fuck, and I like slow old fashioned soap opera. But some of those episode of Youtube from 77-79. Oy vey.

R45 Its funny you mention that. My husband goes to sleep later than I do and I will get into bed and turn on the TV and go to Youtube and put on one of those late 70's ATWT episodes and they help me fall asleep. They are so slow paced. I actually appreciate them.

Patricia Bruder (Ellen Stewart) was one of the uploaders of classic "ATWT", obviously from her own collection. What a generous woman!

None, you fucking MAGA cunt OP

Didn't they try to run old AW on Soapnet with it turning in very poor ratings? Also, about 10 years ago, AOL had its classic P&G Soap Channel where they were streaming EON, Texas, and Search for Tomorrow. I think the original press said they'd add others, if it became popular, but it didn't, and the whole thing was shut down.

R48 is the ghost of Nora Fulton.

R49 "Ryan's Hope" had done very well on SoapNet because they showed it from the beginning, but they chose a very bad starting point for "Another World" (Fall of 1987). Not only didn't we have original recipe Donna (she was back a year and a half later), we started with the whole fake Cass story. The show got better, but they should have started months before, perhaps with the Sin Stalker story where Dr. Steve Aldrich from "The Doctors" became the psychopathic Dr. Alan Glaser and off'd a bunch of women he considered "sluts".

R49 I remember the AOL offerings but that was so long before streaming took off. The trouble with Soapnet was it was so inconsistent. Always shuffling time slots and you never knew for how long they would air a show. I really enjoy the Watch The Doctors app on Roku.

I've spent many hours during the pandemic catching up on "The Doctors", having been smart and downloaded them from 1967-1979 when they were available on line. I am currently in January of 1976, and had watched the show daily from late 1977 episodes to where it stopped in December of 1979. I'm enjoying watching the wheels turn in Geraldine Court's formerly nice Dr. Ann Larimer to where she begins to show a scheming nature.

Why did it stop in 1979?

That is a good question R54. I think we were weeks away from Alec Baldwin as Billy.

Also, It may have been around that point that NBC bought The Doctors from Colgate, so that could also be another answer.

I am spending the last hour of work listening to the "Capitol" Locher room interview with Catherine Hickland, Constance Towers and Nicholas Walker, and it is an absolute love fest. Each of them are a bit teary eyed in not only talking about Richard Egan, Rory Calhoun, Carolyn Jones, Marj Dusay and Ed Nelson (who have passed away) but the atmosphere and stories. There were parts of the show I found weak, but somehow I was drawn, perhaps because it was behind the scenes of what could be going on. Constance says she will be back on "GH" and filmed her scene via phone camera.

They are adding more episodes to the Watch the Doctors app. They are up to 1975 now.

R54 R55 It stopped because of COVID. Back in April, Retro announced that they had to shut down the warehouse and work detail that digitizes the show.

[quote] Joel Wertman, President of Reach High Media Group says, “This beloved drama has been engaging audiences since 1963 and we are proud that Retro TV is the exclusive rights holder for The Doctors on-air, online and in your favorite App Store.” Wertman adds, “COVID-19 related closures at warehouse facilities housing the tapes of The Doctors have impacted our ability to digitalize the episodes in the upcoming storylines airing on Retro TV. Until we are able to resume that process, we invite fans of classic daytime drama to join us as we return to Hope Memorial Hospital and the 1967 season beginning Monday, April 27, 2020. We are committed to our fans and will resume the 1979 season with a weekend broadcast schedule as soon as those facilities reopen."

Thank you so much R59. I wondered what the holdup was. When I called down there they told me it was due to COVID but I was unclear as to just how. Have you seen any of the ones with Kathleen Turner as Nola? I think I did right before they cut off.

Kim Zimmer had been airing for a few months (equivalent of six months shown in three with two episodes a day) when they stopped. The hurricane story had just ended, leaving the city in a mess, so it was a bit of a cliff hanger for those who hadn't watched it in the original airing. I'm sure many of "The Doctors" surviving actors were stunned to find out that it now has a cult following, having really gone out with a wimper. I know in the Locher Room interviews, Jada Rowland and Frank Telfer in particular (both from the final cast along with Elizabeth Hubbard who was also there) seemed to be stunned in retrospect that the show was back.

What is this Locher Room? Is it a podcast? Can I watch the show with Liz Hubbard?

Geri Court loved eating snatch! She was a pussy hound.

r61 never mind I found it.

How much is The Doctors channel and how many episodes do they have? I was never a fan of The Doctors (my Grandma used to watch all the NBC soaps and when I had to stay with her after school, I remember the lineup of The Doctors, Days of Our Lives and Another World and to me, The Doctors was always the least interesting), but I would be up for some retro soaps right now.

R62 It's a youtube channel established by Alan Locher, who was P&G Production's Director of Public Relations from 1997 - 2009. He's been holding podcasts with various soap actors, writers, etc. and putting them up on his this channel.

I actually thought Ruth Warrick's acting on AMC was very hammy. Susan Lucci is annoying as hell, the character is stupid and extremely repetitive.

Except for Julia Barr, David Canary, Jennifer Bassey, Richard Shoberg and a few others the show is unwatchable. And even they get on your nerve after a while because it's always the same story, over and over and over again.

R65 it’s $2.99 a month. They have all the episodes from 1967 to 1975 now. I enjoy the story lines.

Thanks, R68

Poor Locher got hit by the ooogly stick!

I loved Ruth Warrick as Hannah Cord on Peyton Place. I love characters like that and she was perfect.

Vee from SON mentioned Datalounge. He should come here and read how loved he is. He’s in the biz, you know.

The Locher Room has been focusing on actors from As The World Turns and THE Guiding Light.

Until recently I only knew Constance Towers from her portrayal of Anastasia in the 1968 Broadway musical version of the same and as Mrs. Anna in her tours with Yul Brenner in his 1970s stage comeback as the King of Siam and the long sit down engagement in New York. I saw her in that and she was very good. Very handsome woman, decent actress and an absolutely lovely singing voice.

More recently I have discovered her long film and television careers. I'd be in love if in the process I hadn't also discovered the extreme right wing politics of her and her husband, film star husband John Gavin, Reagan's ambassador to Mexico.

Knots Landing

R73 Save yourself some keystrokes. Just refer to it as TGL.

R74 doubly disappointing knowing how damn hot Gavin was back in the day.

Great thread.

I would love to watch Ryan's Hope and Loving again. They were my lunch hour shows. I would come home from school and watch a bit of both and then go back to school. I was 9 years old!

Interesting to read what people think of watching soaps from 30, 40 years ago nowadays. I also bought the Dark Shadows box set but I found I got a bit bored watching them day to day. I don't mind slow-moving stories but you can really tell the filler episodes and too many consecutive ones is a turn off. So I understand where r42's husband is coming from. It is a STUNNING box set, though. The coffin-style packaging is awesome.

I never even got to the Barnabas days (!). But I enjoyed campy Louis Edmonds, who I also enjoyed on All My Children.

Dark Shadows I've watched through twice and there are lulls in the storylines for sure. One of the things I really like about watching The Doctors is, it's a half hour so I can watch one or two episodes a day and that's it. I don't know about sitting through the hour long soaps again. Remember when Another World was 90 minutes???? That was awful.

I'd love to see AMC, OLTL, Loving, and Ryan's Hope (any eras). Also Dark Shadows. Never watched P&G soaps regularly but probably would watch ATWT and GL reruns.

If there’s a fast forward function, I’d pay for them all.

Doug Marland's first year of LOVING

Doug's years at GL and ATWT; I read Doug was at ATWT BEFORE GL for 13 weeks; would love to see that time and if or how it informed his later run.

Doug's run on General Hospital. In a way, his best. Yes, he had wonderful creations after, but Bobbie Spencer, Tracy Quartermaine...Laura, Scotty, Rick, Lesley, Monica, Alan...all great stuff.

Pam Long on GL 83-85/86? and then her run from 1987 to late 1990/early 91.

Some of the Reilly/DeMorest/Curlee/Broderick GL stuff

Bill Bell's Y&R 1984 to 1998; Bill Bell's B&B 1987 - 1997 (Brad took over 1993 ish? )

Patch + Kayla 4 Ever

Anyone remember the Rick Springfield/Noah Drake character on GH? it was a bit before my time, but I've watched clips just to drool.

Get ready for the Mary-est of Mary posts but the comment upthread regarding the beautiful packaging of the complete Dark Shadows DVD package made me wistful thinking how much I would love ABC to produce a DVD package using the iconic All My Children “bible” as a giant box set of the greatest moments and episodes of long running show. Imagine DVDs dedicated to the best couples (Nina & Cliff, Tad & Dixie, Jenny & Greg, Jesse & Angie), best storylines (Laura’s death, Life at Cortlandt Manor, Who Killed Will, Marian/Tad/Liza, Natalie in the Well, Kendall & Erica (SMG era of course)... I would cream my jock. And while I know DVDs have largely gone the way of the 8-track, I would view this as more a collectors item for diehard fans. Would pay top dollar. And yes, I need a fucking life.

That's a fabulous idea r85. I am the one who made the comment about the Dark Shadows packaging. I love your idea.

No one at ABC is interested in taking the time to digitize old soap episodes. Wake up, sheeple. It’s not going to happen. Duh.

r87 that's probably true. ABC soaps don't really hold up like the P&G ones do.

R85

MARY!

ABC soaps were on fire in the late 70s and early 1980s. ABC shows were edgy and cool. So different from the soaps NBC and CBS were airing at the time

i would happily watch AMC again from say 1979-1984. That's when the show was at its absolute peak.

Would watch OLTL again from about 1978-early 1982.

Would rewatch GH from the time Marland became HW in late 1977/early 1978 to when Laura disappeared into the fog in Jan 1982. GH went way downhill after Laura left, although it bounced back about a year later.

ATWT from the 1980s. Margo and Tom! The two Frannies! Steve and Betsy!

I'd also like to see the "stories" my grandma used to watch, in the '70s: "The Edge of Night" and "Secret Storm"

Guiding Light from the late 70s to the mid-80s. Probably the same period for Edge of Night

I think the Paul Rauch era on OLTL would be fun to revisit. Tina and Gabrielle were endlessly entertaining and there were so many hot men on the show at that point. James DePaiva and John Loprieno in their day were gorgeous. Andrea Evans was one lucky girl.

[quote]"Ryan's Hope" had done very well on SoapNet because they showed it from the beginning, but they chose a very bad starting point for "Another World" (Fall of 1987). Not only didn't we have original recipe Donna (she was back a year and a half later), we started with the whole fake Cass story. The show got better, but they should have started months before, perhaps with the Sin Stalker story where Dr. Steve Aldrich from "The Doctors" became the psychopathic Dr. Alan Glaser and off'd a bunch of women he considered "sluts".

SoapNet started its run on AW with episodes that aired in July 1987. That was one of AW's worst periods EVER (1982 and 1987 were AW's very worst years in my opinion). Apparently they chose July 1987 because that was when Anne Heche started on the show as Vicky and they wanted to capitalize on her star appeal.

I would have recommended they start either with the January 1983, which is when Dorothy Ann Purser took over as HW after a dreadful year in 1982 under HW Corrine Jacker. That was when AW killed off Steve Frame (David Canary) again and Mac began wooing Rachel again. January 1983 also marked the introduction of Felicia Gallant, as well as Donna Love. Plus Cecile was still in town creating mischief. Sandy and Blaine's romance was in high gear and a few months later, Mary Page Keller would start her glorious run as Sally Frame.

Alternately, I would have started with episodes from May 1988. That's when Anne Heche began playing Marley Love in addition to her twin Vicky, and the brilliance of Heche's performance truly began. A week or two later, Tom Eplin returned as Jake McKinnon. That was followed a few weeks later by the return of Sharlene Frame (this time played by the wonderful Anna Holbrook) and her daughter Josie. Interestingly, in May 1988, the writers strike was underway (Donna Swajeski was the uncredited scab HW), but AW is one of the few soaps that came out of the writers strike in relatively good shape. Once the writers strike ended, Harding Lemay returned as HW briefly. He departed quickly, unwilling to put up with extensive network interference, but he left behind a superb Bible which Swajeski used extensively when she became the official HW.

Hated Donna Love. Ugh. I’d never pay to watch that cunt stink up the place.

I love Anna Stuart.

R96 I don’t.

Thanks Aunt Liz. I wasn't sure if it was summer or fall. I know that the Sin Stalker story had just ended, but fortunately I have episodes of that period. I'd love to see January 1983 forward. It was a nice transition from the horror that was 1982, and to see early Felicia and Donna would be great. Apparently Christine Baranski was also on in 1983. I liked the story involving an older woman named Bess Kilworth, played by Broadway character actress Carmen Matthews. Her line "Playing with Dickie no doubt" (a reference to an invisible dog owned by Jane Connell's character in "Dear World") is one of the campiest moments in musical theater.

Hi Liz!

I don't doubt your memory or wisdom. But I always thought Lemay had been rehired right before the strike, and then either left or was let go soon after, once AW had the bible. At least, that's sort of the apocryphal tale that has circulated for years.

I believe that Swajeski was a scab and they just kept her on after the strike was over. Kind of shitty, but I guess they had their reasons.

Emergency Ward 10

Hawkins Falls

The Brighter Day

R100 Yes.

Swajeski was actually somewhere in NBC management ranks as a "suit" prior to being a writer. When strikes happen, these shows always pull whoever they can to write episodes, some in official capacities (writers who surrender union rights and go fi core) and some more like Swajeski. I think Goutman and Wheeler, for example, were writing their respective shows in 2008.

Vicky Wyndham wrote ALL episodes, according to her. lol

She didn't write episodes, but she contributed to story off the record. I totally believe that.

Conventional wisdom suggests Swajeski took big chunks of Lemay's bible and passed it off as her own work.

This thread has sparked memories that surprise me. I got hooked on Guiding Light in the late 70s when in junior high school (the John Wesley Ship in a red speedo for the Bauer Fourth of July barbeque era). I can't believe how slowly the story lines moved in those days; I'd avidly watch all Summer and on holidays when they'd still run the show (1pm on the CBS affiliate), and could easily keep up with what was going on. Well, with a little help from [italic]Soap Opera Digest[/italic] read in the grocery store checkout line.

Then, in the middle of my junior year in high school, our family Christmas gift was a big TV (for the era; I think it was a whopping 20-inch screen) and a VCR. I thought we'd died and gone to heaven. The issue was that tapes were still outrageously expensive, so we had all of three blank tapes. I used one of them, on EP mode, and could record a week's worth of episodes before rewinding and recording over the old episodes. My brother recorded some stupid movie over a whole week's episodes, and I was crushed when I realised I'd missed a crucial climatic episode in one of the story lines. Unless you knew someone who'd recorded the episode(s), there was no way of ever seeing them.

I also wore out one of the tapes re-watching several scenes when they introduced Grant Alexander as Philip Spaulding in all his shirtless glory. It was one of the week's worth of episodes that I kept, rushing to the store to buy another blank tape so I didn't have to record over these episodes. Oh, how I wish I'd kept that tape, even with the drop-outs and distortions due to overuse. That's what is so amusing about seeing old episodes on YouTube, clearly digitized by amateurs who'd recorded on VHS in low-res EP mode.

In college, a friend who was studying acting had a party and I met the older sister of one of his friends who was *glamorously* working for P&G on several soaps (as a low level PA, but still...). She and I ended up off in a corner discussing GL and the actors. This was about the time that Chris Bernau came and went from the show due to "health conditions". I was both thrilled to learn that there were so many gay men working on soaps, but disappointed when she confirmed to me that Alexander was definitely not a member of the tribe. Well, a boy can dream, can't he?

Ahh, a bygone era.

R108- that was fun to read. Very evocative. I can relate to the despair at a sibling thoughtlessly erasing shows you were living and dying for.

Grant’s long dong touches the toilet water when he shits.

anyway.....

[quote] Grant’s long dong touches the toilet water when he shits.

Wonder if this poster is denied toilet time at the insane asylum where she lives? I've never met someone so obsessed with shit before.

No wonder every other soap site has blocked her ass.

R6 The complete "Mary Hartman Mary Hartman" series is available on DVD for under $50 (new). You can also bid on used sets on eBay for even less.

Waxy yellow buildup!

R113 I bought it upon release and it was definitely one of the funniest shows I have ever watched.

Anyone know why the full TV series Peyton Place has yet to be released- either on DVD or streaming? I have watched the first 130 or so episodes (originally aired 1964 to 1966) that were put out by Shout Factory in box sets but the last sets came out a couple of years ago but there are three more years of the series. Mia Farrow just woke up from her coma after being hit-and-run by the DA’s wife and doesn’t recognize Ryan O’Neal is her boyfriend!

That is frustrating to me as well, R116. I have them and am waiting for new releases, but I don't think they're ever coming. Must be either they weren't making money or some kind of rights issue. I am also surprised that PP isn't on one of the vaginal mesh channels like Antenna TV.

In answer to the questions about the 1988 writers’ strike and how it affected AW, here is what I know/remember.

Donna Swajeski was an NBC Daytime executive at the time of the strike. She filled in as HW during the strike, but was obviously not credited on screen since she was a scab. She very much enjoyed the writing (many network execs really want to write, but try to get a foot in the door anyway they can), and let the network know she wanted to continue after the strike was over.

Officially, Harding Lemay returned as Head Writer AFTER the strike ended. But he only lasted two months. His scripts aired Sept 12, 1988 to Nov 10, 1988, according to the Another World Home Page. Supposedly, there was a lot of network interference to his scripts -- every aspect of them. And Lemay was just unaccustomed to this level of interference.

When Lemay was HW in the 1970s, yes, he had to get the story lines approved, but the network and P&G left them alone about the day to day stuff since AW was doing so well in the ratings then. He indicated in his book and in subsequent interviews that he was broke enough and hungry enough to put up with the interference when he first started as HW in 1971. But in 1988, he didn't need the money bad enough to deal with all the network interference, which had increased exponentially.

Now, it may have been that NBC increased its interference in an effort to push Lemay to quit, knowing Swajeski was capable and waiting in the wings. We'll never know for sure. Lemay would have been more expensive and Swajeski would have been more open to network interference, both of which would have made her very attractive to the network. Whatever the case, Lemay was out and Swajeski was back in after just two months.

But Lemay did leave behind a three-year story Bible which Swajeski used extensively. It's no secret that she was using his Bible, but obviously, she had to adapt things accordingly, such as when Douglass Watson died, when they decided to put Jamie Goodwin on contract as Jake's half-brother Kevin Anderson, etc. Exactly how much was his and how much was hers, we’ll never know, but viewers were treated to several fantastic years.

Now, all that said, above, here is what I suspect happened before the strike.

I seem to recall that Harding Lemay was announced as returning as AW HW just BEFORE the strike happened (strike was March 7 to Aug 7, 1988). I can't find proof of it anyplace now, but I do seem to recall something about at the time. What I suspect happened is that Lemay agreed to return to AW just prior to the strike. He likely had submitted a short term Bible that ran for 3 to 6 months for approval when the strike hit. He couldn't do any more work when the strike started, but then Swajeski as the scab HW used that short term Bible to guide her through the strike.

My reason for suspecting that he wrote that 3-6 month story projection before the strike is based largely on the fact that Sharlene Frame returned to town in June 1988, during the middle of the strike. Sharlene had been off the show since March 1977 and nobody had mentioned her since she left town abruptly. Suddenly, the show brings back this largely forgotten character during the middle of the writers’ strike? That doesn't seem like something a scab HW would think of to do, even one who had watched the show in the 1970s. I mean, Sharlene was hardly a fan favorite.

But for Lemay, who's trying to revitalize the show and return it to its glorious roots, bringing back Sharlene was a brilliant idea. She had connections to both the Frame and Matthews families (as Russ’s ex-wife), which Lemay began rebuilding. And she brought with her a daughter, Josie, who would represent the next generation of the Frames and a connection to the Matthews family.

The return of Sharlene seems classic Lemay to me.

You're correct. All that Frame kitchen stuff. Then those Rachel and Sharlene scenes about money and social position, that wasn't story from a scab writer.

Those Rachel Sharlene scenes over money and status and Janice should have earned Emmy nods for Wyndham, Holbrook, and the writers.

I bought Digest back then; I don't recall reading anything about Lemay's return. I would have thought that P&G p.r. would have touted that from the rooftops.

The neckties should have left Lemay alone, Also, I wish Lemay had taken a page from Marland and rejuvenated more core families as Marland did on ATWT.

Granted, with ATWT, those families were there and Bob and Kim had recently married; Aunt Liz was brought back, but at this point she was everybody's aunt. They never should have killed off Sally.

Lemay could have brought back Alice, Pat, Russ, Michael, Marianne....we got a nice reunion in May 1989, the show's 25th reunion; that and Alice going to Mac's funeral and have a moment with Rachel was great to see.

It's a mystery why these shows throw their histories away.

And with them, the fans.

R116 I actually bought the ENTIRE Peyton Place series for $50 this past winter from ClassicDVDWorld. I don't know if this post will be stricken or not, but, if you really want the entire show on DVD this is the best bet. Most of it was taped off the "Romance Channel" and most of the episodes are already uploaded to YouTube. But or $50 bucks I got the whole show with the 3 movies and it was INCREDIBLE!! Seeing Ruth Warrick as Hannah Cord, Lee Grant as Stella Chernak it's so much more than well worth it. Like Dallas, it's one show I will watch through again. Barbara Parkins was incredible.

Remember when coming home on a Friday night meant buying the new Soap Opera Weekly and doing the crossword? Reading all the casting changes and stuff? I use to love that.

Oh and then I would go to the East or West Side Club.

[quote]It's a mystery why these shows throw their histories away.

I think fans totally underestimate the unseen politics behind the scenes at these shows. Writers who hate characters. Writers who hate actors. Actors who hate actors. Suits who hate actors and writers and producers. Suits who want to write. The focus group people. The soap opera behind the soap opera is usually better than what's airing and it's why these shows make so many strange decisions that make zero sense.

I suspect the AW 25th anniversary celebration bringing back Pat and Alice was part of Lemay's Bible. The anniversary party is also when they introduced Russ's daughter Olivia. Russ had already been back in town for a few months at that point. That all seems classic Lemay.

I suspect Lemay would have eventually brought back Michael and Marianne Randolph, Pat's children. Maybe that was part of his Bible and Swajeski chose not to use that. Or possibly they were gauging audience reaction to reintroducing the Matthews family via Russ and Olivia before bringing back more of the clan.

There's only so much gauging of the audience you can do ahead of time. The Matthews can were proven commodities -- I was hoping their return in May 1989 would pave the way for more appearances (31 years, I've let it go).

If they had asked the audience we're thinking of recasting Vicky and Marley again -- we have this new girl, Anne Heche; and audiences said No! It's Ellen or nobody!

Claire Labine said once show me three letters a week that say I'm going a great job; I just need to write my vision and hope the audience enjoys it.

Of course, it's a good idea to see what viewers are responding to; It's good that DAYS will see audience reaction to Cady as Jennifer.

I love soap opera history. If I could see "The Secret Storm" episodes where Joan Crawford filled in for Christina and the "One Life to Live" episodes where Carla is revealed to be a light-skinned, black woman, I'd be happy.

[quote]I bought Digest back then; I don't recall reading anything about Lemay's return. I would have thought that P&G p.r. would have touted that from the rooftops.

I can't recall where I read prior to the 1988 writers' strike that Lemay was returning to AW. The more I think about it, I don't think it was an official announcement. Think it might have been reported as a rumor. Possibly reported in the weekly Soap Opera NOW newsletter, or maybe a rumor in Lydia Hirsch's soap opera column that ran in the newspapers or someplace like that.

Of course, one the strike was over, the P&G and NBC PR people did shout it from the rooftop about Lemay's return.

Bless you R122!! I just ordered a set. Now I’ll find out if Barbara Parkins ever dropped the goody-goody candy striper act and went back to her fake-pregnancy-ensnaring hussy ways!

R188/R119 Thank you, dear Liz!

Whoops, that should be R118 and R119. I need another coffee, darlings.

R122 are the videos clear and commercial free?

I’d never watch anything with that disgusting frau Donna Love.

Which Donna Love? There was classic, patrician Donna Love. And young, sex kitten Donna Love.

R132 the videos are commercial free and clear though there are a few there are not the best quality but they are all watchable. For $50 I’m not going to complain. I got to see the entire show and it was really good. The DVDs came in little envelopes bundled. It’s definitely no frills but it’s all there. Including the 4 movies. The 2 theatrical and the 2 television ones.

[quote] There was classic, patrician Donna Love. And young, sex kitten Donna Love.

Or as we call them here

Original Recipe Donna or ORD (my nom de plume)

or

Brand New Sexy Donna (or BNSD)

It looks like they are up 1979 on the Watch the Doctors app. Did Geraldine Court, Ann Larimer, eat pussy in real life?

She never ate my pussy.

Geri loved snatch. I think she ate Irene Daily out. Connie was too miserable to let anyone down there.

Really?? That’s fascinating r139.

Original Donna, 14 years. Donna who should have been Nicole, 2 years. Even sub Donna (Sofia Landon) was better than Nicole aged Donna.

what was weird was that Sofia Landon Grier (fab as Diane Ballard) subbed as Donna during Marley's trial for shooting Jake during which time Marley bolted so Vicky sat by Cass in her place, pretending to be Vicky.

Then they called Vicky as a witness. Rut Ro.

The doors swing open and there's Marley, dressed as Vicky.

What a showcase for Anne Heche!

I'm wondering why Sofia's character of Jennifer Thatcher only lasted maybe 3 months on "Another World". I really liked her, and they could have stretched the story out a little further rather than killing her off in a car accident out of the blue and for husband David to kill his uncle then to get knocked off himself. Both Landon and Lewis Arlt coming back in other roles made me do a double-take, especially since Sofia had scenes with Anna Stuart when Donna went out of her way to introduce Jennifer to Sally then tell her that little Kevin (who was there with his "mother") was her son. Anna and Sofia had worked together for several weeks on "Guiding Light" before Diane Ballard was murdered, another interesting twist in their connection.

I forgot about the Thatchers;

AW really lost me in the early 80s after it got rid of Pat Matthews. I felt she was a consistent heart and soul of the show. ALL those recast Alice's! I think there were three after Courntey: Susan Harney, Linda somebody and Vanya somebody?

Harding Lemay is one of my favorite writers, but he was wrong about her not being an actress (he conceded in his memoir) she was a star, something the others weren't.

Sally was aged up and her whole family was mostly gone save Aunt Liz. Mary Page Keller joined AW in 1983; Hugh Marlow (JIm) died in May 1982, a few days shy of the show's 18th anniversary.

Even though the Bauers took a huge hit in 1984-85; Mike and Hope written out; Hillary killed off; Charita died. But there was still Ed, Rick, Maureen, and later Michelle. ATWT in 1985 REALLY rejuvenated the Hughes clan -- Bob and Kim married; blended family with Frannie and Andy; his parents, Chris and Nancy in the garage apartment.

But the Matthews clan was wiped out; one brief return circa May 1989, the show's 25th anniversary: Pat, Russ, Alice, Liz, Russ' daughter Olivia (who was the mother? Olivia Delaney played by Tina Sloan?); mentions of Michael and Marianne. A month or so later, Alice came back one last time for Mac's funeral.

If Doug had come back to this show, had he lived, after leaving ATWT in late 1993 or 1994 or even 1995, he would have returned the show to glory, I feel.

Hated hated hated Anna Stuart and anything she ever did. Terrible actress! Never even nominated for an Emmy, thank GOD!!!

R144 Wesley Pfenning, 1979; Vana Tribley, 1981; Linda Borgeson, 1981-1982. Wesley P. played Cynthia Elliott on "General Hospital" in 1982. She was the nutso patient of Dr. Cy Katz (Jordan Charney, ex-Sam Lucas, "AW") whom Heather used to cause trouble for him because he could send her back to the nut house. She looked far too young to have played Alice three years before, but she was also rather disheveled as her character was bonkers, and no, not Daisy Cortlandt's cat. Linda Borgeson recurred on "GH" 1984-1985 as Sylvia Whitby, a young Port Charles society matron who along with Anne Jeffreys' Amanda Barrington paid masseur Leo Russell (John Callahan) to do more than just remove the aches and pains from their back and legs.