FLASHBACK: Radio Soaps versus TV Soaps 1968

In Today's Soap Operas, Men Are No Longer Rotten

By Dan Sullivan
New York Times
June 23, 1968

JIM HARMON, in his recent, wonderfully elegiac book "The Great Radio Heroes," recalls certain long gray afternoons 25 or 30 years ago, when a kid home from school with the sniffles had nothing to do but listen to soap operas on the radio. Harmon recalls how delighted he always was to find that the daytime people on PORTIA FACES LIFE and JUST PLAIN BILL got mixed up with the crooks, just like the nighttime people--his people-- on MR. KEEN. Sometimes, he confesses, he would even prolong the sniffles a couple of days just to see how the stories would come out. But--radio soap opera being as devoid of final solutions as life itself--they somehow never did come out. Eventually he would give up and go back to school, forgetting Mary Noble, Helen Trent and David (FRONT PAGE) Farrell until the next time he got sick.

Mr. Harmon's memories are shared by millions of former sniffly American kids, including me and quite possibly you. We, of course, have changed over the years. But what of the soap operas? Those of the alumni who have not kept up with the genre--who are not at home during the afternoon to watch AS THE WORLD TURNS, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and the rest of a dozen or so TV dramas that have replaced yesteryear's beloved radio serials (77 of them in 1938)--may be interested in a night-worker's notes on how things have changed in daytime drama since the last time you heard Oxydol's Own MA PERKINS.

News Brief

Daily Bruin: One prime example of someone affected by scabs and financial core members is Marina Alburger, a member of the writing staff for “The Young and the Restless.” After the last episode written by her and the rest of the show’s staff aired on Dec. 24, new episodes continued immediately with writing credits going to Josh Griffith, one of the show’s co-executive producers who went financial core from the WGA in order to cross the picket line, as well as Maria Avena Bell, the daughter-in-law of the show’s creator. “It is starting to become crunch time for me financially. I have begun searching for alternative means of work,” said Alburger. “I love nothing more than to write so to have to go off and be a cocktail waitress or a bartender, it’s not for me. I didn’t go to UCLA and earn a bachelor’s degree in communication studies to become a cocktail waitress or work at Nordstrom’s. Those are fine things to be, and fine places to work, but they are not me. It’s not what I came to Los Angeles to do ... I love writing. It’s just who I am,” she said. While Alburger, like many on strike, feels frustrated by the ongoing situation, her resolve for a beneficial resolution still stands. “I have to do what I have to do and I have to stand for my guild,” she said. “It’s tough to know that the show is going on without us but we do know there is going to be a day after the strike and we do plan to return to get the show back on track.”

411mania.com: Trivia: The phrase "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV" was first said by actor Peter Bergman in a commercial for Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup in a campaign that launched in 1987. At the time Bergman was playing Dr. Cliff Warner on the soap opera "All My Children." Since 1989 he's played Jack Abbott on "The Young and the Restless" for which he's been nominated 13 times for outstanding lead actor at the Daytime Emmy Awards with four wins.

Holland Sentinel: Bill Idelson, an actor, television writer and producer who as a teenager played the son on the classic radio soap "Vic and Sade" and later played the recurring role of Rose Marie's mother-dominated boyfriend on TV's "The Dick Van Dyke Show," has died. He was 88.

Boston NOW: Mark Schwahn, the creator and executive producer of The CW's "One Tree Hill" tells Boston NOW: "I think there has to be a place for stories about people that don't have a huge hook. I always say that on a lot shows, the technology has become the star. I don't watch a lot of TV but when I did see reality TV I saw soap operas. She's the villain, he's the hero, this one's duplicitous. They were real people but the producers were very smart about stealing moments, stealing looks, and making it into a soap opera. I just can't imagine there won't be a place for that kind of storytelling. It may change, it might not be on your traditional TV set."

Metro: "Emmerdale" bosses have apparently said they are unfazed about going up against "EastEnders" after ITV changed the Yorkshire soap's schedule. The rural show will no longer be shown on Sunday evenings, instead being broadcast for an hour-long episode on Tuesdays from 7pm. It means the second half of the show will clash with its BBC One rival.

What's On TV: "EastEnders" fans will be pleased to hear that Matt Di Angelo will be making a return to the soap. But Matt, who recently wowed the nation with his sexy moves in "Strictly Come Dancing," is only back for a short time before disappearing from Albert Square for good. Matt's alter ego, Deano Wicks, comes back to Walford next month, after doing his time in jail - but life on the inside has left him a changed man and he's on the lookout for trouble.

Esquire: "Friday Night Lights" is such a brilliant, effective TV show that -- sometimes -- I don’t enjoy watching it. Very often, I will feel on the verge of tears throughout an entire episode; it is the most emotionally manipulative show ever made. Part of it has to do with its brilliant use of music; if you play Explosions in the Sky loud enough, the process of hanging drywall can be a life-altering experience. But the larger reason "Friday Night Lights" is so moving is the way it taps into all the conservative impulses most mediacentric intellectuals try to ignore. The show’s moral code is so traditional and pure that it borders on cliché. It’s reactionary in the best possible way. Whenever I watch it, I find myself thinking, I bet my parents would love this. Which is probably why I was certain that FNL looked like CBS.

75 years ago today

The second daytime serial to be heard on network radio, Vic and Sade, debuted on the NBC Blue radio network 75 years ago today. Radio’s first daytime drama was Clara Lu and Em, which premiered on NBC in 1931.