Friday, September 25, 2015

Today in Soap Opera History (September 25)

1970: ABC aired the final episode of The Best of Everything.
1984: All My Children's Tad was celebrated at his bachelor
party.  1996: Days of our Lives' Sami and Austin married.
1998: One Life to Live's Bo grieved his son, Drew.
"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
― Maya Angelou

"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...

1967: On Dark Shadows, while Willie Loomis remained in a coma, Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) attempted to hypnotize David Collins (David Henesy) to stop his prying into Barnabas' (Jonathan Frid) affairs.



1970: ABC aired the final episode of The Best of Everything, a short-lived ABC daytime soap opera that had only premiered on March 30, along with A World Apart, which ran until June 25, 1971. Based on the novel and 1959 motion picture of the same name, The Best of Everything focused on three career girls who became friends at powerful Manhattan publishing company Key Publishing. April Morrison (Julie Mannix, who was later replaced by Susan Sullivan), Linda Warren (Patty McCormack), and Kim (Katherine Glass) soon discovered that achieving "The Best of Everything" was a difficult prospect, as they faced romance, intrigue, and publishing magnate Amanda Key (Gale Sondergaard) in the Big Apple.

Also starring in the cast were Geraldine Fitzgerald as Violet Jordan, Rochelle Oliver as Barbara Lamont, and Gwenn Mitchell as Ginnie Curtis, and Gregory Rozakis as Squirrel.

1979: On As the World Turns, Lisa (Eileen Fulton) weighed in on the romance between her son, Tom Hughes (Tom Tammi), and Barbara Ryan (Colleen Zenk).



1980: On Another World, Gwen Frame visited Mac Cory (Douglass Watson) to say goodbye before her move to be with Willis. This was Dorothy Lyman's final appearance as Gwen, until her visit during the show's 25th anniversary in May 1989. Ron Harper also appeared for the last time as Taylor Halloway. The episode includes a St. Croix flashback including Christine Jones' memorable character, Janice Frame.



1984: On All My Children, Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight) was "a jolly good fellow" at his bachelor party.



1988: Actor Francis De Sales died at age 76. He played Rusty Lincoln in Days of our Lives in the 1960s and returned in 1971 to play James Spencer.

1996: On Days of our Lives, Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) and Austin Reed (Austin Peck) were married.



1998: On One Life to Live, friends and family paid their condolences to Bo Buchanan (Robert S. Woods) after his son, Drew, died.



1999: Paul Feig's short-lived primetime drama Freaks and Geeks premiered on NBC, produced by Judd Apatow.

2009: On General Hospital, Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) has a nightmare on the day of her wedding to Damien Spinelli (Bradford Anderson). Later, Spinelli announces during the ceremony that he loved Maxie but could not marry her.



2011: Docu-series Dirty Soap premiered on E!

2012: Entertainer Andy Williams died age age 84. In 2007 he appeared and sang as a special guest star on As the World Turns when Jennifer Landon's Gwen (plus her look-a-like Cleo) and friends headed to Branson.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Barbara Walters (Former host of the Daytime Emmy Awards) - 86
Josh Taylor (Roman/ex-Chris, Days of our Lives; ex-Jed, The Young and the Restless; ex-Quint, Guiding Light; ex-Jack, Beverly Hills, 90210) - 73
Mark Hamill (ex-Kent, General Hospital) - 64
Tommy Norden (ex-Gary, Search for Tomorrow) - 64
Eduardo Yáñez (ex-Jose, Amores Verdaderos; ex-Juan, Corazon Salvaje) - 55
Heather Locklear (ex-Amanda, Melrose Place; ex-Sammy Jo, Dynasty) - 54
Shell Danielson (ex-Dominique, General Hospital; ex-Laken, Santa Barbara; ex-Bunny, The Young and the Restless) - 53
Matt Battaglia (ex-J.L., Days of our Lives; ex-Drew, Queer as Folk) - 50
Hal Sparks (ex-Michael, Queer as Folk) - 46
Matthew Dale (ex-Ian, Home and Away) - 46
Justin Carroll (ex-David, Passions)
Nikos Psarras (ex-Robert, Guiding Light) - 44
Clea DuVall (ex-Wendy, American Horror Story) - 38
Hunter Garner (ex-Billy, As the World Turns) - 36
Van Hansis (Thom, EastSiders; ex-Luke, As the World Turns) - 34
Sarah Jayne Dunn (ex-Mandy, Hollyoaks) - 34
Alexis Manta (ex-Amanda, All My Children) - 26
Megan Corletto (ex-Abigail, Days of our Lives) - 23
Ashlyn Messick (ex-Belle, Days of our Lives) - 22
Kayley Messick (ex-Belle, Days of our Lives) - 22

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a soap history entry for this date or a future date, email [email protected].

1 comment:

  1. You left out Frankie's near death experience on a special other worldly episode of Another World which aired on this date in 1991. Frankie was gravely injured by an explosive special effect(courtesy of Carl Hutchins and meant for Kathleen McKinnon) during the taping of Dean Frame's Ladykiller music video. Though Cass had left her for Kathleen, Frankie selflessly risked her own life to save the first Mrs. Winthrop. Happily, the power of Cass's love pulled Frankie back from the other side. I can still hear Cass pleading with Frankie to come to back him: "....I never liked myself more than when I was with you.....". Me too, Cass.....I never liked you more than when you were with Frankie either.

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