Yes Allison and Rod fall in love on the daytime series. Allison goes catatonic after a fire at the cabin where Benny Tate had been holding her. He ends up shot -and she is arrested, everyone believing she shot him in self defense. Rod can't buy that, arguing (much to Betty's chagrin) that Allison could never harm anyone. Rod goes on to investigate what happened and he finds the real Benny Tate, being cared for by his mother Zoe. Benny killed his twin brother Jason (who had been masquerading as him and Allison never figured it out) to save Allison, then got too sick to come forward to admit the crime. Allison is freed and goes to Benny and marries him (legally, their original marriage is invalid since Allison did not use her real name) and then he dies. Rod is now back in love with Allison and tired of Betty's selfishness and ambition...but Betty ends up pregnant (by Steven) and they reconcile. Allison and Rod pine for one another in a harbinger back to the nightime series' original story for them. Finally the truth about the baby is revealed and Rod and Allison are able to be together. The very last scene of the daytime show has Allison rushing to Rod's houseboat and they embrace. The use of water - their first time in that sail boat - is a constant throughout their relationship on the daytime soap.
Ada and Rita are very prominent in the show. Both don't miss a beat and look fantastic. Rita's Norman this time is the very hot Ron Russell who conveys a lot of what Chris Connelly had. Rita and Norman have an adorable daughter, Laurie, who steals scenes. Ada still has the tavern and still dispenses salty advice. Ada and Eli are kind of an 'item' on the daytime show (no mention of Maggie Riggs). Ada at one point leaves town and turns the tavern over to Rita who hires a young girl, Monica Bell, to assit her. Norman and Rodney have dumped the motorcycle business to buy fishing boats. Betty at the series outset is sick of the smell of fish on her husband and his constant desire to start a family. You see Betty very clearly wanting Steven and the old glam life they had. Steven pines for Betty, too and has a picture of their wedding on his desk which everyone comments on. Steven and Rod though have patched up their differences and Rod considers Steven his 'best friend' when the show starts!
As you can tell I loved the daytime show. James Lipton was involved, and later Gail Kobe (Doris Schuster on nightime PP) emerges as the show's associate producer. Kobe brought a lot of PP to her tenure as Guiding Light's EP in the 80's with the Beth Raines (think ALlison, blonde hair, bangs) and Phillip Spaulding (the brilliant Grant Alexsander - an O'Neal type all the way) as Rodney. Unfortunatley much of what else Kobe did on GL was to decimate the show's core family, the Bauers. Don't get me started on that!
I'm thrilled PP is on dvd. My local Barnes and Noble does not carry it. I have seen the first volume and it is wonderful. I hope too there are more releases. This show is totally involving and leaves you wanting more. I would love to see the daytime series released some day (pipe dream) because of the overall happy ending. One more interesting thing - Dorothy Malone as Connie was under utilized for being the 'star' - she would have appreciated the strong work Susan Brown did when she took over Connie on RTPP. Connie had endless story - an affair, an attempted abortion(!) and the constant worry about Allison.