Soap operas (1 Viewer)

[Sa5150]

Yes, I've been recording the old NBC soap, "The Doctors," since I FINALLY got the Retro TV channel in my area last November. They air two 30-minute episodes every Mon-Fri. They are currently airing episodes from 1975, but they've been airing the show for a couple years now starting with the 1968 shows.
It's fun to watch these episodes because I was just a little kid back then, so I never watched the show but I do remember the fashions and the ugly furniture. No cell phones here! I guess that's part of their charm! Some of the actors currently on the show now are future stars like, Gil Gerad, Armand Assante, and Julia Duffy. It's funny how easily I got hooked on the show, but they do move at a SNAIL'S pace. LOL
Plus, on weekends they have a mini-binge where they show 4 consecutive episodes from 1971 on Saturdays, and 4 episodes from 1968 on Sundays.
I also have several episodes of General Hospital from the Luke & Laura years that I got from recording special anniversary celebration marathons, or from fan trading. I wish they would rerun that soap again!
Retail-wise, other soap operas I own are: Dark Shadows Complete series coffin-shaped boxed set, and all 40 volumes of the Aussie soap opera, Prisoner: Cell Block H.

http://www.myretrotv.com/index.php/portfolioentry/the-doctors/

It sucks they took off soapnet , It was the only way to watch classic episodes of General Hospital . We occasionally get a nice old rerun during holidays on ABC with really good picture quality , better then what soapnet aired since that was only in 480i . Hope to see more Soaps on retro tv .

 

[Mike Frezon]

It was the only way to watch classic episodes of General Hospital . We occasionally get a nice old rerun during holidays on ABC with really good picture quality

Being a former GH fan myself, I used to love the fact they'd always find ways to wedge in some opportunity for John Beradino to read the Christmas story as Dr. Steve Hardy (to the kids stuck in the hospital as patients) during the holiday episodes.

Those times when the soaps would tip their caps to former characters/cast are what helped keep their fan base intact.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

It sucks they took off soapnet , It was the only way to watch classic episodes of General Hospital . We occasionally get a nice old rerun during holidays on ABC with really good picture quality , better then what soapnet aired since that was only in 480i . Hope to see more Soaps on retro tv .

I never got soapnet back then, but I wish I did. I'm surprised nobody has started a new soap channel. We got so many digital sub channels now that we didn't have when soapnet started! I'm currently enjoying the Buzzer TV channel which shows all the old daytime game shows like Match Game, Card Sharks, Supermarket Sweep, and Classic Concentration.

 

[bmasters9]

and this one, which i grew up with, and was my favorite(although my grandmom might disagree with me, because she liked the orignal Charles Paul theme as played on the organ by Clarke Morgan better...)

I grew up around that latter one as well, but I prefer the one I posted before because, at least IMO, the title sequence that was used with that one (which I also grew up around) was of a far better caliber-- the wreath of interlocking rings leaving a tunnel behind it, the faces separating, and the title swinging in like the hinges on a door and coming together, as in this example from an '82 broadcast:

 

[Lord Dalek]

The most famous (and longest running) title sequence is this one.



And before you ask the video is a recreation. Only the sound is real.

 

[bmasters9]

The most famous (and longest running) title sequence is this one.



And before you ask the video is a recreation. Only the sound is real.

Quite all right-- I see why that AW opening has the classic status and reputation it does!

 

[Sa5150]

The major problem is that a lot of the major shows (particularly the Procter & Gamble shows) weren't archived for posterity. The Edge of Night and As the World Turns aired live until 1975, and there's not that much from either show on tape prior to 1978. That year seems also to be the beginning of the continuous ABC archives for All My Children and One Life to Live. General Hospital's first seven years (1963-70) were all archived on B/W kinescope which is in the UCLA collection. But GH went to color in 1967, so the earliest existing color tape in the ABC archives is from- you guessed it, 1978! Aside from the apparently missing 1970-78 years (though some kinescopes and off-TV recordings from 1976-78 are on YouTube), GH has roughly 47 out of 55 years of episodes (to date) archived in one form or another. Some independent producers were smart to save the tapes. Dan Curtis got his start in syndication sales at NBC, so he saved Dark Shadows for future syndication. Also, Colgate-Palmolive saved The Doctors, and Labine/Mayer Productions saved Ryan's Hope - by the time they sold the series to ABC in 1981, the network was already archiving their soaps. One reason why soaps weren't archived had to do with the expense of videotape in the 60s and 70s: once technology improved and videotape became cheaper, that's when the episodes began to be saved. Until then, tapes were wiped and reused. Now the good news: some other vintage soaps were archived intact, like Strange Paradise, Bright Promise, and the later shows like Texas, Santa Barbara, Loving, and Capitol. Both Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless are produced through Columbia/Sony's TV division, and everything from both shows has been archived on color videotape from the start, Y&R in 1973, Days all the way back to 1965! Here's an unbelievably recent (and true) anecdote: someone asked Days executive producer Ken Corday (whose parents created the show) about releasing classic episodes of the show on DVD or syndication, and he replied "Why on earth for?" How about the MONEY???

That's a really awesome read , Thank you .

Bummer that the GH is missing some really important years on how some of the characters evolved . Awesome to know that 76-84 Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless are archived . I would buy them in a second . Don't know why these companies pass up MONEY!!! Soon no one will even know what this stuff is ...

 

[Sonja Witthaus]

Does anyone collect a certain soap or many soaps on DVD?

My favorite is "Days of our Lives". I have the complete years of 1995-2005 on DVD. also, most of November and December 1983.

Just curious to see if there are any soap collectors out there.

I'm looking The Young and the Restless episodes from 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002? Do you have or know anyone that has these?

 

[danielanderson6500]

The original AW theme played on the organ by Clarke Morgan (1964 - 1975): "Another World Theme"
and the one that was performed on the air as a duet by Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris ("(You Take Me Away To) Another World") were the two themes i like.

 

[danielanderson6500]

I've seen Walter and Lenore's wedding on AW, it's a black and white kine.

 

[danielanderson6500]

And here's a closing from Another World from 1985, with that classic ending announcement of his, "Join us each weekday at this time for the continuing story of Another World."



And here's the AW title from that closing w/Procter and Gamble copyright from 1985 (captured from that clip from user bmuz):

View attachment 53927

If i remember, he was the second oldest person associated with AW(Virgina Dwyer being the other.) Also, both Wolff and Dwyer were on the very first show in 1964. I wonder how old Carol Roux is, since she's still living...

 

[danielanderson6500]

Who was the announcer on guiding Light before Alan Berns? Hal Simms?

 

[bmasters9]

Who was the announcer on guiding Light before Alan Berns? Hal Simms?

Indeed so! Bud Collyer was the announcer before Hal Simms, per this SitcomsOnline thread:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=253885

 

[Charles Ellis]

There's been rumblings lately about ABC possibly reviving All My Children and One Life to Live. If it does happen, I think it would be in half-hour form to fit the current ABC schedule with the GMA spinoff and General Hospital. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

 

[danielanderson6500]

Something that i heard on an aircheck of AW, which you don't hear these days was an announcement by Bill Wolff that
"due to the illness of Charles Baxter, the part of Fred Douglas is being played today by Whitfield Connor." That's one thing i miss about soaps these days....

 

[B-ROLL]

Something that i heard on an aircheck of AW, which you don't hear these days was an announcement by Bill Wolff that
"due to the illness of Charles Baxter, the part of Fred Douglas is being played today by Whitfield Connor." That's one thing i miss about soaps these days....

Or the role of X is now being played by X ...

 

[danielanderson6500]

Indeed so! Bud Collyer was the announcer before Hal Simms, per this SitcomsOnline thread:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=253885

Alan Berns started with GL in the early 60s, no? it sounds like him

(go to 2:30 in clip.)

Since he says "The Guiding Light has been presented" it sounds like him.

 

[sjbradford]

If there’s one thing I can guarantee you, it’s that ABC will not be reviving AMC or OLTL. They can get a similar rating with a cheaper, non-scripted show.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Alan Berns started with GL in the early 60s, no? it sounds like him

(go to 2:30 in clip.)

Since he says "The Guiding Light has been presented" it sounds like him.

No that's Hal Simms. Berns didn't become announcer until 1969.

 

[danielanderson6500]

No that's Hal Simms. Berns didn't become announcer until 1969.

Hal Simms was the announcer during the years that The Guiding Light used as its theme music an adaptation of "Romance from Wieniawski's Violin Concerto # 2 in D Minor." Alan Berns became The Guiding Light's announcer, a position he would hold until the spring of 1997, before the "Romance" piece was retired. Around the same time, came a new theme in F# Major called "La Lumière" by Charles Paul, who became GL's organist in the summer of 1969. Interestingly, mid program breaks were accompanied by a short Charles Paul composition titled "Rue D'Or," which is French for "street of gold." (By the way, "Rue D'Or" was also, in a slightly different arrangement, the theme for the character Peggy, and was used for the closing, in a medley with "La Lumière.")