Monday, December 30, 2013

Today in Soap Opera History (December 30)

1968: NBC's HIDDEN FACES premiered. 1983: GL's Phillip and
Beth spent New Year's Eve in New York. 2002: PORT
CHARLES' "Surrender" arc began. 2003: OLTL's Dorian visited
AMC's Pine Valley.
"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see."
- Winston Churchill

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1963: ABC shifted GENERAL HOSPITAL to the 3 p.m. ET time slot. It had previously aired at 1 p.m.

1964: On ANOTHER WORLD, Pat (Susan Trustman) refused to give John (Michael M. Ryan) permission to access her medical records.

1968: NBC daytime soap opera HIDDEN FACES premiered. Created by Irving Vendig, the show aired in the 1:30 p.m. ET time slot, replacing LET'S MAKE A DEAL as the lead-in for DAYS OF OUR LIVES. The cast included Conard Fowkes, Louise Shaffer, Conard Fowkes, Rita Gam and Linda Blair. The series only lasted six months. Click here for more on this classic soap.

1983: On GUIDING LIGHT, Beth (Judi Evans) and Phillip (Grant Aleksander) spent New Year's Eve in New York.



Thanks for Jennifer for sending in the item above.

1985: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Terry told Jake and Bobbie that she was going to marry Kevin.



1999: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Carly (Maura West) and Barbara (Colleen Zenk) put on a fashion show on New Year's Eve.



2002: Actor Antony Ponzini died at age 69. His soap roles included Vince Wolek in ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Danny Fargo in ANOTHER WORLD, Tony Wyatt in THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Tony Perelli in GENERAL HOSPITAL, Lucas Gates in RITUALS, Victor Borelli in ALL MY CHILDREN and Captain Corelli in GENERATIONS.

2002: The "Surrender" arc of PORT CHARLES kicked off. The special 60-minute episode included Rafe (Brian Gaskill) and Alison's (Erin Hershey Presley) wedding which came to a halt when evidence surfaced that they could be brother and sister. Meanwhile, Caleb (Michael Easton) and Elizabeth (Rebecca Staab) were married, and Livvie (Kelly Monaco) and Tess became one. When Caleb left Elizabeth alone on her wedding night to see what happened, she turned Ian (Thorsten Kaye) into a vampire.



2003: On ALL MY CHILDREN, Dorian (ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Robin Strasser) plotted with Adam (David Canary) about the Paul Cramer (Brock Cuchna) and Babe (Alexa Havins) situation.



2005: UK's FAMILY AFFAIRS ended after and eight and a half year run.

2009: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Kyle (Brett Claywell) and Fish (Scott Evans) made love.



2010: Actor Michael Allinson died at age 90.  His soap roles included Ian Russell in LOVE OF LIFE and Nelson Maxwell on ANOTHER WORLD.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Russ Tamblyn (ex-Dr. Jacoby, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Dr. Hayden, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Dr. Jacoby, TWIN PEAKS) - 79
Concetta Tomei (ex-Estelle, FALCON CREST) - 68
Sheryl Lee Ralph (ex-Mooshy, FALCON CREST) - 57
Kelli Maroney (ex-Kimberly, RYAN'S HOPE) - 53
Daniel Sunjata (ex-Peter, SMASH; ex-Eli, GREY'S ANATOMY; ex-Zachary, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 42
Cassandra Creech (ex-Denise, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Dana, ANOTHER WORLD)
Jason Behr (ex-Chris, DAWSON'S CREEK) - 40
Josh Davis (Jesse, EMPIRE) - 39
Troy Kurtis (ex-Nico, GUIDING LIGHT) - 33
Jason Dottley (ex-Ty, SORDID LIVES) - 33
Eliza Dushku (ex-Hollu, TORCHWOOD: WEB OF LIES; ex-Cameron, UGLY BETTY; ex-Faith, BUFFY/ANGEL) - 33
Kristin Kreuk (Catherine, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; ex-Lana, SMALLVILLE) - 31
Ashley Bashioum (ex-Mackenzie, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 30
Caity Lotz (Sara, ARROW; ex-Stephanie, MAD MEN) - 27

Actor Bernard Barrow was born on this day in 1927.  He played Dan Kincaid in THE SECRET STORM from 1970 to 1974, patriarch Johnny Ryan on RYAN'S HOPE during its run from 1975 to 1989, and Louie Slavinski in LOVING from 1990 to this death in 1993.

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].

7 comments:

  1. RIP Michael Allinson. Ian Russell was a favorite character of mine on "Love of Life".

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  2. I have read that when Elaine Princi first started playing Dorian Lord in the 90's, she made a crossover to All My Children. Does anyone have any more info or videos of this?

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    Replies
    1. I believe Elaine crossed over to AMC as Dorian in 1991 but I don't have any supporting evidence to prove it. :)

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    2. Elaine definitely did cross over to AMC in 1991. Dorian had scenes with Adam Chandler. I recall that Elaine and David Canary had good chemistry. I don't really remember the storyline although it involved The Intruder.

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    3. That crossover was reported in the nationally-syndicated newspaper column "TV Dialogue," dated January 5, 1991. According to that report, Dorian had a meeting with Adam Chandler in Pine Valley in December 1990 (around Christmas Eve).

      QUOTE: "Llanview and Pine Valley are across the river from each other, and that's why in the early days there were so many character crossovers," Agnes Nixon told us recently. The two locales are hometowns to .two of the soaps she created - "One Life to Live" (1968) and "All My Children" (1970). Indeed, one of the charms of the- small soap world in the early '70s was to see minor characters like Dr. Clater ("All My Children's" obstetrician) and Dr. Polk ("One Life to Live's" psychiatrist), and even a major "AMC" character like Paul Martin (formerly played by Bill Mooney) cross over to appear on the neighboring show. That hasn't happened in ages - except, we happily note, last Christmas Eve. That's the day "One Life to Live's" Dorian Lord Callison (Elaine Princi), publisher of that scandal rag, The National Intruder, came to Pine Valley to have a meeting with Adam Chandler (David Canary) about an article that slurred Adam's wife Natalie (Kate Collins). Keep up that crossover tradition!

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