Soap operas

As I told before, ALL of Days has been archived from the first episode on color tape! Check out some compilation and flashback sequences on YouTube showing clips from the 60s and 70s in pristine condition. Trust me, it's all in the Sony vaults!

 

You'll be pleased to know that it's already been done for a classic soap: Jonathan Frid's first episode as Barnabas Collins on Dark Shadows was restored from a kinescope this way- actually, it was the last few minutes of the kinescope that got the treatment. That's when Barnabas arrives at Collinwood for the first time and is greeted by the housekeeper Mrs. Johnson. The videotape master was intact except for that final act which was damaged. With that all-important scene restored, the new video of that episode is now on DVD.

 

Hey there! It's nice to see you over here. This is Ron Ron from sitcoms chat board. I have a collection of B&B, ATWT and GL. They are DVDs that were released a while back. I was lucky to get all of the releases of ATWT and GL. Too bad they stopped releasing more DVDs. I have a few DVD releases too from B&B. I think they released 3 and I have them all. Wish we could get some Y&R too.

 

I hate it that P&G had almost all their soap episodes pre-1978 wiped. There was some great drama back then, especially Guiding Light. It was in its prime in the late 1970s to the very early 1980s, especially when the late Michael Zaslow as Roger Thorpe was on his evil streak, culminating in the great (on location) Santo Domingo episodes. Some of those from that era made it to special DVD sets, most have been uploaded to YouTube, while some astute fans of the show had taped episodes to VHS or Betamax and uploaded them to the same site. However, the vast majority of episodes prior to 1978 are gone forever.

 

And in the case of Another World, that meant most of the years where Harding Lemay is the head writer are also gone forever. The lack of foresight is tragic. Imagine finding out that your life's work no longer existed. If that were me, I'd feel pretty ticked off.

 

But in some cases the people who worked on those shows got personal copies- either kinescopes or tapes. The late Jacqueline Courtney, who played Alice Frame on Another World had gotten a couple of scenes on color kinescope - you can see those on YouTube. Joel Marston, a veteran character actor, played a man dying of heart disease on General Hospital in 1974. His family has a YouTube tribute channel in which two scenes (on color videotape!) have been posted. What makes it more special is that it's the only place you can see the pre-1975 GH title sequence in color!

 

Here's Jacqueline Courtney with George Reinholt as Steve Frame in 1973-74:


Joel Marston as Owen Stratton on GH with Rod McCary as Dr. Joel Stratton - 1974

 

What a great find! I was raised on GL and ATWT and while I can't remember this specific episode (I would have been 6), I certainly remember that era and those wonderful actors. Mart Hulswit was my favorite "Ed."

 

If anyone is an old Y&R viewer, they are bring back three women from the Bauer family (they were gone by the time I started watching so I don't know much about them) for the shows 45th anniversary. I know one was one of Victor's early wives. Hopefully I can track down the article.

 

The Bold & The Beautiful has had DVDs on the market for quite some time, but those are compilations.

In Germany however, a company has released the first 2 years of the show. Sadly, the sales numbers weren't that great (the sets were rather expensive) and no further sets were released. The quality was supreme and the quality of the storytelling was absolutely amazing.

 

All My Children are confined to their beds as patients at General Hospital, where The Doctors are said to have come from Another World.

 

JFTR, I made this guide just in case this thread got bumped again. Its probably not the most accurate since its highly dependent on what's been made public knowledge, but that's what you have to deal with sometimes.

NBC:

These are My Children: Aired live, no kinescopes

Hawkins Falls: Aired live Only 15 episodes exist on kinescope

Miss Susan: Aired live, no known kinescopes

Golden Windows: Aired live, no known kinescopes

First Love: Aired live, no known kinescopes

One Man's Family: Aired live, no known kinescopes

From These Roots: Aired live, no known kinescopes

Young Doctor Malone: Aired live, no known kinescopes

Our Five Daughters: Aired live, no known kinescopes

The Doctors: Surprisingly intact from December 1967 on with actual color VT to boot! It is presumed that the entire run has survived but 290 episodes are not included in the SFM syndication package for reasons unknown.

Another World: Only a handful of episodes from 1964 to 1978 are believed to have survived. The earliest is a lone kinescope from 1964 present at the Paley center. Additional kinescopes made for the armed forces network in Vietnam exist from 1973 and 1974. Some of these are in (rather poor) color. The Paley Center holds some of the earliest hour long shows, in what quality format I am not sure (we only have crap camcorder copies out there in the wild). A off-air recording exists of an early hour-long show from November 1976. As with the rest of the P&G catalog archive holdings start in mid-1978 and presumably include the show's brief 90 minute expansion.

Paradise Bay: Unknown. At least one episode exists on kinescope. Most likely wiped but considering its a Corday show and the fate of the series that replaced it, there's a chance that something more may have survived.

Morning Star: See Paradise Bay.

Days of Our Lives: Reported to be 100% intact, but the actual archival nature of most episodes pre-1980 remains unknown owing to a lack of reruns.

Hidden Faces: Wiped. No known footage

Bright Promise: Reported to be 100% intact. Due to the reputation of the production company (Bing Crosby Productions), I'm inclined to be believe this is the case.

Somerset: Almost completely wiped. Surviving footage includes a poor quality transfer of a color kinescope made for the Armed Forces Network, an aircheck made at the local NBC affiliate in Washington DC on Election Day 1972, and one studio master from 1975.

Return to Peyton Place: Generally believed wiped. A few tapes exist at UCLA, maybe more at Fox.

How To Survive A Marriage: A single kinescope.

Lovers and Friends/For Richer, For Poorer: Wiped. An off-air of an episode from the second format exists.

Texas: Intact save for a handful of episodes.

Search for Tomorrow (NBC Run): Intact

Santa Barbara: Intact

Generations: Intact

Sunset Beach: Intact

Passions: Intact


CBS:

The First Hundred Years: Aired live. A couple kinescopes exist.

Search for Tomorrow (CBS Run): A small handful of kinescopes exist from 1951-1964 when the series was a live production. Nothing after that until mid-1978 as with most Proctor & Gamble soaps.

Love of Life: Very little regrettably. A few kinescopes from 1951, 1956, and 1962 respectively and a couple off-air recordings from the late 70's including the finale.

Guiding Light: As with most P&G soaps, Guiding Light was not properly archived until 1978. Prior to that point are a handful of stray studio masters (the Papa Bauer funeral episode from 1972) and several kinescopes. That said there remain very large chunks of the show missing such as the near entirety of the series' first three years in color.

Valiant lady: Aired live. A single kinescope survives.

The Brighter Day: Aired live. A couple kinescopes exist....of the New York seasons. This show actually moved to LA very late in its run and CBS had better archiving policies in effect there.

The Secret Storm: Only a small handful of episodes known to exist. All on kinescope and all prior to 1967.

The Road of Life: Aired live. A single kinescope survives.

Three Steps to Heaven: Aired live. A couple kinescopes exist.

Portia Faces Life: Aired live. No known kinescopes

The Seeking Heart: Aired live. No known kinescopes

As The World Turns: As with most P&G soaps, ATWT was not properly archived until 1978 and what survives before then is mostly kinescopes (such as the infamous November 22, 1963 episode that was abandoned in the middle). But unlike Guiding Light and Search for Tomorrow, ATWT was still presented live well into the 1970s when it switched to prerecording in preparation for its expansion to an hour format. As such there are even less surviving pre-1978 recordings out there than Guiding Light. However if air checks of early 70s Edge of Night can survive who knows.

The Edge of Night (CBS Run): ATWT and EON were the last live soaps on television in 1974 and thus very little exists. At least a couple color live episodes of Edge of Night have turned up though (the Christmas 1974 show is one), but the pre-1967 episodes far outnumber them.

Hotel Cosmopolitan: Aired live. No known kinescopes

Full Circle: One episode is known to exist. This was the first CBS soap produced at Television City which helps its survival a little bit.

The Clear Horizon: One Kinescope. Replaced Full Circle, also shot at Television City

Love is a Many Splendored Thing: A handful of kinescopes

Where the Heart Is: Very little, a few tapes at UCLA (presumably black & white off airs) and some kinescopes.

The Young and the Restless: Intact

Capitol: Intact

The Bold and the Beautiful: Intact


ABC:

General Hospital: Selmur Productions, the company that produced General Hospital at the time made kinescopes of their whole run (roughly the first ten years worth) and donated them all to the UCLA Archive (including the unaired pilot “Emergency Hospital”). As for the early-mid 70s...alas they're gone for the most part with only some stray off airs and kinescopes.

The Young Marrieds: Unknown. As Selmur also produced this show it is possibly intact in kiniscope form at UCLA. A few episodes exist in the public sector.

A Time for Us: Wiped. No known kinescopes

The Nurses: Wiped (note: Not to be confused with an earlier CBS show of the same name)

Never Too Young: Same case as The Young Marrieds. Entire last week of shows were uploaded to the WOST site briefly

Confidential for Women: Wiped. No known kinescopes.

Dark Shadows: Almost entirely intact save for a single episode (an off-air audio reconstruction replaces it).

One Life to Live: This is going to hurt. Agnes Nixon, realizing that ABC lacked the funds to hold onto tapes for very long after transmission, actually had the foresight to create kinescopes of her company, Creative Horizon Inc.'s entire output from 1968 to 1975. That's the good news. The bad news is said kinescopes were all lost when the storage facility they were in caught fire in the late 70s. So they're completely gone. Only two shows are known to exist prior to 1976, both from 1969 and one of them in a color VT master. A few scattered episodes exist from 1976 to the first hour long show in 1978 when wiping finally ceased.

All My Children: Like One Life to Live, most of the early episodes were lost in that fire. However some were apparently salvaged including the premiere and a few random episodes from 1970-1971 after Nixon found them in a disused closet. An off-air recording from 1971 is the earliest existing color copy out there in the wild. The proper episode archive begins in 1977 when the show expanded to an hour.

The Best of Everything: Wiped.

A World Apart: An off-air of the series finale exists. Apparently the only episode to survive.

Ryan's Hope: Intact.

Edge of Night (ABC Run): P&G has the 90 minute premiere on top of all episodes from mid-1978 on. A couple random episodes from 1976 also exist on off-air recordings.

Loving: Intact

The City: Intact

Port Charles: Intact

 

You say the AW archives start in mid-'78; does that mean that the archives include episodes with the "ring-tunnel" opening of 1981-87, and the "cursive-writing" 1987-96 opening w/the Gayle/Morris title track, among others?

 

The earliest surviving episodes feature the second version of the "kaleidoscope opening" from 1975 so yes. For whatever reason P&G Soap Classics started their streaming run in 1980 (I assume they elected to skip the first 1 1/2 years of surviving material because of Another World's brief flirtation with 76 minute run times in 1979)

 

What was the point of making AW 90 minutes long? I will never not be fascinated by the train-wreck years of NBC, but the cart-before-the-horse mentality that gave us better promos than actual shows also affected whatever hits they had adversely as well as generating bomb after bomb after bomb. This hurt the most because it looked good on paper, but in execution seemed like too much of a good thing.

It's ironic that more kinescopes survived than tapes. Even so, that story about OLTL really is tragic. Even when taking precautions to preserve your legacy for future generations, something unforeseen could still go wrong. That's as bad as willful neglect and destruction, but for different reasons. Too bad there's no technology to harvest the memories of soap fans and recreate lost shows based on those.

I also want to know: what was the first soap to shoot a story or scene on location?

 

The Paley Center has several kinescopes.

 

I used love going there when my grandparents lived in the San Fernando Valley, but I haven't been in years.