Saturday, October 13, 2012

Today in Soap Opera History (October 13)

On this date in...

1970: On ANOTHER WORLD, Rachel (Robin Strasser) told Ada (Constance Ford) her clever little tricks helping the Matthews family would not stop her from getting what she wanted.

1986: On RYAN'S HOPE, Frank (John Sanderford) and Jill (Nancy Addison) bickered over each other's foibles.



1986: On SEARCH ON TOMORROW, Suzi and Cagney's car was involved in a fatal accident.  The character of Cagney (Matthew Ashford) was paralyzed from the waist down as a result.  This was Terri Eoff's final appearance as Suzi.



1988: On GUIDING LIGHT, Reva (Kim Zimmer) freaked out when she found Josh (Robert Newman) lying down with a gun on the floor, but it turned into another "always" moment.



1989:  Jane A. Rogers aired for the final time as Heather Donnelly in SANTA BARBARA.

1994: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Jason (Steve Burton) watched as John (Corbin Bernsen) and Steven (Shaun Benson) talked about Carly.



1995: On ALL MY CHILDREN, Erica (Susan Lucci) asked Maria (Eva LaRue) to keep opinions to herself.



2002:  Actor Dennis Patrick died at age 84.  His soap roles included Paul Stoddard in DARK SHADOWS, Patrick Chapin in RITUALS and Vaughn Leland in DALLAS.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Christine Jones (ex-Pamela, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Janice/Amy, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-Christina, RITUALS; ex-Catsy, RYAN'S HOPE; ex-Anne, LOVERS AND FRIENDS/FOR RICHER, FOR POORER)
Kelly Preston (ex-Gillian, CAPITOL) - 50
Kate Walsh (Addison, PRIVATE PRACTICE) - 45
Cady McClain (ex-Rosanna, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Dixie, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 43
Katie Walder (ex-Shannon, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Janet, GILMORE GIRLS) - 36
Jennifer Sky (ex-Sarah, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 36

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to [email protected].

6 comments:

  1. Roger...It wasn't really Teri's final appearance on SFT. That Christmas (shortly before the final episode), Suzi's "angel" came back to communicate to Cagney and baby Jonah that she gave her blessing for them to move on with Evie (as played by Joanna Going). Killing off one of only 2 characters related to the show's Core/Original character, Joanne, was another nail in the coffin for SFT. (Leaving Jo with only one remaining relative: daughter Patti...)

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  2. Thanks, Nelson. Lots of mistakes along the way for sure, but even on its worst day much better than WORDPLAY. Do you remember/know how many NBC affiliates weren't airing the show by the end?

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  3. That's right...the show could never compete fairly in the ratings because so many NBC affiliates didn't carry it when it made the move from CBS. But even its lowest ratings in 1985/6 look positively outstanding by today's standards! Ironic.

    I got an email a couple years ago from "Baby Jonah." I never realized "he" was played by a little girl! We all thought that EP Ellen Barrett was mad as a hatter for deciding to name a little boy "after his Aunt Jo" by calling him "Jonah." Bringing in the McClearys and Bigelowe's Bar were other parts of her failed (and ultimately fatal) attempt to turn SFT into RYAN's HOPE.

    I should point out that Terri Eoff did an amazing job making the role of "Suzi" her own after being the 3rd actress in the course of as many months to play the part (Cynthia Gibb, then Elizabeth Swackhammer). Terri (like me) was weaned on classic SFT and idolized Mary Stuart and their scenes had a special sweetness eclipsed only by Mary's scenes with Larry Haines.

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  4. The GH clip is from 2004 not 1994. Thank you for clips. Loved the '95 AMC clip.

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  5. God--I Still Miss SFT Like Hell!

    Brian :-(

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