Saturday, April 14, 2012

Today in Soap Opera History (April 14)

On this date in...

1958: LOVE OF LIFE expanded to 30 minutes having previous been 15 minutes in length since it debuted on CBS in 1951.

1970: On ANOTHER WORLD, Steve (George Reinholt) woke up after brain surgery and asked Alice why she wasn't wearing her engagement ring. It would be revealed that Steve didn't remember anything that happened after the summer of 1969.

1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Dr. Wellman's suggested Draper (Kirk) undergo narcosynthesis (drug therapy + hypnosis) to help recall his past.



1997: Michael Stroka, who played a number of characters on the original DARK SHADOWS series, died at age 58. He also starred as Dr. Quentin Henderson on THE EDGE OF NIGHT.

2009: On GUIDING LIGHT, Olivia (Crystal Chappell) bared her soul at Gus Aitoro's grave.



2011: ABC canceled ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney ABC/Television Group, said in a statement that day: "We are taking this bold step to expand our business because viewers are looking for different types of programming these days. They are telling us there is room for informative, authentic and fun shows that are relatable, offer a wide variety of opinions and focus on 'real life' takeaways." Frons was fired from ABC on December 2, 2011, before THE REVOLUTION premiered to dead-on-arrival ratings. THE REVOLUTION was canceled on April 10, 2012.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
John Clarke (ex-Mickey, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 81
Arlene Martel (ex-Mavis, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 76
Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, ONCE UPON A TIME) - 51
Catherine Dent (ex-Janice, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 47
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Bridget/Siobhan, RINGER; ex-Kendall, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Sydney, SWANS CROSSING; ex-Buffy, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) - 35
Paul O'Brien (ex-Jack, HOME AND AWAY) - 34
Claire Coffee (ex-Nadine, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 32
Nick Krause (Landry, GCB) - 20
Graham Phillips (Zach, THE GOOD WIFE) - 19
Skyler Samuels (ex-Andie, THE GATES; ex-Chloe, THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING) - 18

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].

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