Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Today in Soap Opera History (January 7)

1963: SFT's Marian faced troubled times. 1974: HOW TO
SURVIVE A MARRIAGE premiered. 1980: ATWT's Mary was
shocked to see Joyce. 2005: Y&R's Drucilla and Phyllis faced off.
"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...

1957: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Sara (Teal Ames) had a drink at the bar with the man she recognized from the photo, Roy Benson. When Mike (John Larkin) arrived, Sara pretended he was her boyfriend which caused the man to leave. Mike had Willy (Edward Holmes) follow him.

1963: On SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, Marian Rand (Jane McArthur) dashed in front of an oncoming car.



1969: On ANOTHER WORLD, Sam Lucas (Jordan Charney) married Lahoma Vane (Ann Wedgeworth) at Ada's house.

HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE's Joan Copeland as
Monica Courtland, Jennifer Harmon as Chris Kirby
and Steve Elmore as Peter Willis.
1974: Daytime soap opera HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE premiered on NBC with a special 90-minute episode. Created by Anne Howard Bailey, the show starred Rosemary Prinz as Dr. Julie Franklin in its early episodes. The premiere featured two couples in bed together after having sex and implied they were nude under the covers. It was quite risqué at the time. The show replaced RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE in NBC's daytime lineup.

NBC vice president of daytime programming Lin Bolen said HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE would be "a very contemporary dramatization of a problem which confronts so many couples in today's society - separation and impending divorce."

The 30-minute HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE initially aired at 3:30 p.m. ET following the high-rated ANOTHER WORLD. The show moved to 1:30 p.m. ET when ANOTHER WORLD expanded to an hour January 6, 1975. The ratings, already low, got even worse.

HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE ran for 335 episodes with the finale airing on April 17, 1975. DAYS OF OUR LIVES expanded to an hour the following Monday.

1980: On ANOTHER WORLD, Charlie Hobson (Fred J. Scollay) married Ada McGowan (Constance Ford) in the Cory mansion living room.

1980: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Mary (Kelly Wood) was shocked to see Joyce (Barbara Rodell) alive and back in Oakdale.



1983: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Tiffany (Sharon Wyatt) thought Noah (Rick Springfield) was about to propose marriage. Instead, Noah told her that he wanted to be free to date other woman.



1986: On RYAN'S HOPE, Jillian (Nancy Addison) told Frank (John Sanderford) that Meg Smith didn't just leave Johnny mementos, she left him a son.



1997: UK soap QUAYSIDE premiered. It only lasted 17 episodes.

1997: On SUNSET BEACH, Casey (Timothy Adams) was intrigued by Rae (Kelly Hu).



2005: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, it was another round in the long-running "Drucilla vs. Phyllis" feud when Drucilla (Victoria Rowell) came calling to tell Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) about her promotion at Newman Enterprises. But this particular encounter would spill into real life due to the now-infamous "spit take" that occurred between the two actresses.



Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in the item above.

2013: Prospect Park confirmed the return of ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

Camryn Grimes
Celebrating a birthday today are:
Joe Ponazecki (ex-David, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-Larry, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Phil, RYAN'S HOPE) - 80
Fern Fitzgerald (ex-Marilee, DALLAS; ex-ALL MY CHILDREN) - 67
Kristen Meadows (ex-Victoria, SANTA BARBARA; ex-Mimi, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 57
Kevin Rahm (Lee, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) - 43
Esta TerBlanche (ex-Gillian, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Bienke, EGOLI: PLACE OF GOLD) - 41
Josh Blake (ex-Craig, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW; ex-Jamie, SPYDER GAMES) - 39
Lyndsy Fonseca (ex-Alex, NIKITA; ex-Colleen, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 27
Camryn Grimes (Cassie, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 24

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].

1 comment:

  1. You guys need to do a "Where Are They Now/Catching Up" interview with Barbara Rodell and Kelly Wood.

    ReplyDelete