Monday, January 27, 2014

Today in Soap Opera History (January 27)

1971: The last appearance of Barnabas Collins on the original
DARK SHADOWS.  1984: Jack Wagner debuted as Frisco Jones.
1998: OLTL's Téa tried to figure out Todd, a year after her debut.
2006: PASSIONS aired its Bollywood episode.
"Maybe if people started to listen, history would stop repeating itself."
- Lily Tomlin

"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...

1931: CLARA, LU & EM shifted from WGN to the NBC Blue Network, one of the earliest radio soap operas. Listen to the episode here.

1971: Jonathan Frid made his final appearance as Barnabas Collins on the ABC daytime soap opera DARK SHADOWS. The episode was also the last time viewers saw Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Flora Collins, Julia Hoffman, Timothy Eliot Stokes, Angelique, Leticia Faye, Desmond Collins and Lamar Trask in the original series.



1972: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Orin (Lester Rawlins) fought with Nurse Hubbell and ordered her out of the house.

1983: Actor Robert Christian died of AIDS-related complications in New York City at age 43. Christian appeared on ALL MY CHILDREN and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, but his biggest soap role was as Bob Morgan on ANOTHER WORLD. Christian's AW co-star Petronia Paley (Quinn) spoke about him in our 2011 interview "The first love interest I had on the show was Robert Christian, and he was a wonderful, wonderful actor, and we got along so beautifully. He died tragically, from AIDS, and it was working on that show that I learned about it. In fact, he was one of the first people diagnosed, so it was a sad and tragic time. I had this lovely person who I loved working with, and we had such a great time, and yet it was such a tragic end for him."

1984: Jack Wagner debuted as Frisco Jones on GENERAL HOSPITAL. Steffi (Elissa Leeds) introduced Blackie (John Stamos) to Frisco, the new lead singer of his band, Blackie and the Riff Raff. Blackie had reservations about Fisco but the rest of the band took to Frisco immediately.



Thanks to Kellie for sending in the item above.

1984: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Speed (Robert Romanus) was a bad influence on Pete (Michael Leon).



1986: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Anna (Finola Hughes) wasn't convinced Russell was the killer.



1988: On ANOTHER WORLD, Felicia (Linda Dano) and Mitch (William Gray Espy) spent a romantic evening at home and became engaged.

1993: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, Traci (Beth Maitland) made a surprise return to Genoa City.



1997: Florencia Lozano debuted as Téa Delgado on ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

1998: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Téa (Florencia Lozano) told Todd (Roger Howarth) she would never understand him.



2006: PASSIONS aired its "Bollywood" musical extravaganza. This special episode was built around Gwen (Liza Huber) and her husband, Ethan Crane (Eric Martsolf), moving to India for his new job--a development that led Gwen to fantasize about what life would be like without her nemesis, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald (Lindsay Hartley), always in it. The original song, "Love Is Ecstasy," won the Daytime Emmy for its category.



Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in the item above.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
James Cromwell (Thatcher, BETRAYAL; ex-George, SIX FEET UNDER; ex-Gerald, DALLAS) - 74
Mimi Rogers (ex-Blair, PAPER DOLLS) - 58
Susanna Thompson (Moira, ARROW) - 56
Carrington Garland (ex-Kelly, SANTA BARBARA) - 50
Alan Cumming (Eli, THE GOOD WIFE; ex-Billie, THE L WORD) - 49
Tamlyn Tomita (Catherine, RESURRECTION; ex-Ming Li, SANTA BARBAR; ex-Giselle, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Ellen, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 48
Lisa Cerasoli (ex-Venus, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 45
Josh Randall (ex-Simon, GREEK) - 42
Davetta Sherwood (ex-Lily, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 30

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. Passions Bollywood! .. Could any other soap do that ?!? .. lol!

    ReplyDelete