DISCOVER FOR YOURSELFIn honor of Columbus discovering America (yes, I know it existed before he got there; and he wasn't exactly looking for it; all PC tropes duly noted), let today be the day you discover a new soap!
If you're a Guiding Light fan, consider tuning into As The World Turns -- and vice versa.
If you're a viewer of current soaps, think about picking up a classic.
On the AOL/PGP Classic Soap Channel, we've got free episodes of:
Another World - Making its NBC debut in 1964, AW was originally supposed to be a spin-off of ATWT and the shows exist in the same universe. Upon AW's cancellation in 1999, several character arrived in Oakdale, with Jake McKinnon staying for several years, and his twin daughters -- born (off-camera) on ATWT -- eventually being taken back to Bay City by their aunt and grandmother after Jake's death. GL also exists in AW's universe. In 1966, Springfield's favorite son, Mike Bauer, took his young daughter, Hope (future mother of Alan-Michael Spaulding) to live in Bay City where Mike spent a year practicing law. The show currently features Victoria Wyndham, Douglas Watson, Tina Sloan, Ray Liotta, Susan Keith, Richard Beakins, and Christopher Rich with David Canary, Kyra Sedgewick, and Morgan Freeman scheduled to arrive shortly!
Edge of Night - Premiering on the same day in 1956 as ATWT, EON was intended to be daytime's answer to Perry Mason. Murder mysteries dominated its first few years on the air, with crusading DA Mike Karr attempting (rather fruitlessly, it turned out; the small Midwestern town was quite the hotbed of crime) to rid Monticello of murderers, thieves, thugs and kidnappers. Current episodes star Sharon Gabet, Joe Lambie, Terry Davis, Joel Crothers and Frances Fisher. Margaret Colin (ATWT's first Margo) made her daytime debut on EON.
Search for Tomorrow - For 35 years, SFT revolved around Jo. Even when Jo was (very) frequently kidnapped, Jo was still the center of life in Henderson. Though Jo would only be played by one actress, Mary Stuart, her daughter, Patti, was played by an indeterminate number of actresses (some lasted less than a week as temporary fill-ins while a permanent actress was sought) including Lynn Loring, Abigail Kellog, Leigh Lassen, Tina Sloan, Trish Van Devere, Melinda Plank, and Jacqueline Shultz. The currently airing cast features Louise Shaffer, Sherry Mathis, Jane Krakowski, Joseph C. Phillips, Angela Bassett, Lisa Peluso, Matthew Ashford, David Forsyth and another SFT stalwart, Larry Haines.
Texas - This Another World spin-off aired on NBC for only two years (1980-1982). In that time, however, it managed to bring to daytime Benjamin Hendrickson, Catherine Hickland, Carla Borelli, Lisby Larson, Daniel Davis, Jay Hammer, Harley Jane Kozak, David Forsyth, Jerry Lanning, Pam Long, who would find her greatest success as a soap opera writer, and Christopher Goutman, currently the Executive Producer of ATWT!
3 comments:
This is terrific. Please consider running an ad of this nature in Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly to attract fans who may not be aware that you are airing these classic episodes. Ideally, the editors will decide to do a cover story featuring one star from each. My sugggestions would be Victoria Wyndham, Carla Borelli, Sharon Gabet and someone from SFT (the latter was not aired on the Canadian networks, so I do not know the cast).
Perhaps you can also advertise through the on-line edition of TV Guide. In Canada, Chatelaine magazine, Maclean's and Reader's Digest would be good outlets.
I've now done some homework on SFT. How about Larry Haines to round out the representation from the four shows?
It would be great if P&G Classic Soaps could somehow get their hands on older episodes of all these soaps it currently webcasts, ideally from about 1965-85 (or earlier, where applicable).
I know supposedly the early videotape years are the hardest to obtain, as most eps. from then are presumed lost through a short-sighted network practice of reusing videotapes (which were also more expensive than kinescoping back then).
But maybe more of an archives exists than we are led to believe. How about checking with the surviving crew & talent who worked on those past episodes? It is typical for persons to keep audition tapes when looking for new work, so who knows? And maybe there are some untapped storage spaces/vaults at both the networks and P&G that could be gone over with a fine tooth comb? Perhaps there are some more videotapes to yet be located from that era of soaps' episodes which are presumed lost to the ages.
While we're on this subject, what about adding some eps. (however limited) of "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing," "Love Of Life," "The Secret Storm," "Somerset" and "Where The Heart Is?"
Also, would it be possible to even obtain some other, non-P&G, classic soaps, such as "The Best Of Everything," "Bright Promise," "From These Roots," "Hawkins Falls," "How To Survive A Marriage," "Never Too Young," "Peyton Place"/"Return Yo Peyton Place," and "A World Apart?"
I think the popularity and success of soaps worldwide, and at AOL Video in particular, should indicate that better searching for daytime drama's missing heritage is a venture well worth exploring.
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