Thursday, January 17, 2013

Today in Soap Opera History (January 17)

On this date in...

1958: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Mike (John Larkin) called Willy and asked him to put two investigators on Toni for protection.

1966: Charles Baxter debuted as attorney Fred Douglas on ANOTHER WORLD.

1968: On DARK SHADOWS, Josette (Kathryn Leigh Scott) read the biography accompanying the photo of her in the book she found in Victoria's room which said she "died by her own hand in the winter of that same year, 1795."

1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, April (Terry Davis) told Draper (Tony Craig) about the dream she had the night before.



1988: Australian soap opera HOME AND AWAY premiered. The show is set in the fictional town of Summer Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales.



1997: On SUNSET BEACH, Casey (Timothy Adams) told Meg (Susan Ward) he was not "S.B."



2000: SOMETHING IN THE AIR debuted in Australia. The show lasted until 2002.

2007: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) went to church and confessed to Father Ruiz she may never get the chance to tell Jason about the baby or that she loved him.



2007: During the TV critics tour, NBC Universal Television president Jeff Zucker remarked that DAYS OF OUR LIVES would most likely not "continue past 2009."

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Betty White (ex-Ann, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Brenda, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-SANTA BARBARA; ex-DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 91
James Earl Jones (ex-Jim, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Jery, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 82
Jane Elliot (Tracy, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Carrie, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Angelica, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Cynthia, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Madge, A NEW DAY IN EDEN; ex-Linda, A FLAME IN THE WIND) - 66
Chris Whitesell (Writer, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; DAYS OF OUR LIVES; AS THE WORLD TURNS; SUNSET BEACH; GENERAL HOSPITAL; ANOTHER WORLD; GUIDING LIGHT) - 56
Naveen Andrews (ex-Sayid, LOST) - 44
Freddy Rodríguez (ex-Gio, UGLY BETTY; ex-Rico, SIX FEET UNDER) - 38

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].

3 comments:

  1. Love Betty White! EON with the Scotts and all was among my faves. Also, I haven't seen much of Home & Away mentioned on this site, but I LOVE this show, esp the classic, early episodes. Made my morn seeing Tom and (original)Pippa. Great show, arguably one of the best soaps ever (also love other Aussie soaps Neighbors, Sons & Daughters, Prisoner). Just great seeing H&A here!

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  2. To clarify, I loved EON during the period with April/Draper and Miles/Nicole. I esp liked the character of April, too bad she was written out in the early 1980s. Henry Slesar was let go to bring in a writer from Charlie's Angel (yikes!), which resulted in Nicole being killed off and several lackluster SLs (with the Van Dine's being pretty much the only bright spot). Still love and miss EON!

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  3. Be still my Liason-loving heart! The clip captures what I liked best about Liason, the couple often focused on Liz's POV at a time when GH rarely focused on the POV of the female characters.

    Elizabeth & Jason was the very last couple on soaps I really dug. I hated that their love story was so brief and that Jake was killed off by sadistic writers. A Webber/Quartermaine child represented the future of the show and the product of a great soap couple.

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