David Canary began his storied run as ALL MY CHILDREN’s Adam (he didn’t add Adam’s twin, Stuart, to his roster until the following year); Jennifer Bassey debuted as Marian; superfan Carol Burnett appeared as Verla, who was revealed to be Langley’s daughter — and Elizabeth Taylor surprised her in a scene, dressed as Burnett’s famous “Charwoman” character; Dorothy Lyman quit as Opal, and also won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress; and original cast member Hugh Franklin (Charles) retired.... It was a whirlwind year for beloved duo Angie and Jesse, who eloped, divorced, remarried and became parents to Frankie.... Tad juggled sexual relationships with married Marian and her unwitting daughter, Liza.... Daytime’s first lesbian character, Donna Pescow’s Lynn Carson, came out to her patient, Devon.... Erica began a romance with Mike Roy, while her half brother, Mark, developed a cocaine addiction.... A fire claimed the life of Donna and Chuck’s son, PJ, while Erica accidentally offed her cheating lover, Kent Bogard....Jenny was humiliated when doctored footage made it appear as though she’d starred in a porn, Jenny Does The Big Apple.... Darnell Williams (Jesse) won the Outstanding Supporting Actor Daytime Emmy.
ANOTHER WORLD made several significant hires, adding Linda Dano (Felicia), Anna Stuart (Donna) and Charles Keating (Carl).... After 12 years as executive producer, Paul Rauch left the show, which hired back its first EP, Allen Potter; Dorothy Ann Pursur succeeded Robert Soderberg as head writer.... Steve was killed in a car crash on his would-be wedding day to Rachel....Rachel and Mac married (for the third and final time) in a double wedding with Sandy and Blaine.... Cass cheated on Felicia with Cecile.
Christian J. LeBlanc (now Michael, YOUNG AND RESTLESS) made his soap debut as AS THE WORLD TURNS’s Kirk; Margaret Colin left the role of Margo, which went to Hillary B. Smith; future Oscar winner Marisa Tomei began as Marcy; Brian Bloom hit the scene as Dusty; and Anthony Herrera exited as James, who was presumed dead after tumbling out of an airplane.... One of daytime’s longest-running marriages began when Tom and Margo said, “I do.” Gunnar and Barbara, and Craig and Betsy, also swapped vows.... Dee stood trial for John’s murder — but John made a dramatic courtroom entrance, exonerating her.... Betsy welcomed her daughter by Steve, Dani.... Caroline Franz and John Saffron, then Saffron working solo, succeeded exiting Head Writers Bridget and Jerome Dobson.
Catherine Hickland joined CAPITOL as Julie, while Marj Dusay debuted as Myrna, succeeding Carolyn Jones....Tyler and Julie tied the knot.... Trey fell in love with Sloane; Kelly, pregnant by Trey, left town.... Sam discovered that he had an illegitimate daughter, Amy Burke, who was going blind.... Myrna caused trouble for Mark and Clarissa.
DAYS OF OUR LIVES welcomed future supercouple Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell aboard as Hope and Bo, while Joseph Mascolo left as Stefano.... Roman and Marlena became Mr. and Mrs.; Tony and Anna married — and divorced.... Liz gave birth to her daughter with Neil, Noel, while being held hostage by Stefano, who later seemingly perished from a stroke.... Hope ran away from boarding school and sparks flew between her and Bo, while Maggie was torn between Mickey and Don.... Renee and Trish were murdered with a knife to the back; the killer came to be known as the Salem Slasher, who was ultimately revealed to be Andre.... At Soap Opera Digest’s Soapy Awards, Deidre Hall (Marlena) won Outstanding Actress.
Lori Loughlin (Jody) exited EDGE OF NIGHT, with Karrie Emerson taking over her role, while Charles Flohe (later known as Charles Grant) debuted as Jody’s love interest, Preacher; supercouple Raven and Sky tied the knot; scheming Nora stopped at nothing to drive a wedge between Miles andNicole — then was killed (by double agent David Cameron). Nicole was then murdered herself, via poisoned makeup (by TV station manager Stan).
GENERAL HOSPITAL lured back Genie Francis for a short run as Laura, and said good-bye to Anthony Geary (Luke), Kin Shriner (Scotty), Robin Mattson (Heather), Janine Turner (Laura), Demi Moore (Jackie) and Rick Springfield (Noah)....While Luke was presumed dead following an avalanche, his pregnant gal pal, Holly, wed Robert in order to stay in the country (she miscarried, but they fell in love for real); when Luke resurfaced, he was elected mayor and got a special present on his inauguration day: the return of his presumed-dead wife, Laura. They left town together.... Edward’s illegitimate son Jimmy Lee Holt came to town; Monica began raising Jason, Alan’s son by Susan, who was murdered by Lila’s first husband, Crane Tolliver, after Susan married Scotty.... Heather and Scotty had a torrid fling.... Bryan and Claudia tied the knot.... Bobbie took up with D.L. Brock....Celia’s new hubby, Grant, was actually an undercover DVX operative.... GH won Favorite Soap, and Tristan Rogers (Robert; now Colin, Y&R) was named Outstanding Actor at the Soapy Awards.
GUIDING LIGHT completed the casting of the “Four Musketeers” with the additions of Judi Evans (Beth, now DAYS’s Adrienne), Michael O’Leary (Rick) and Krista Tesreau (Mindy). Other significant hires were Kim Zimmer Reva), Vincent Irizarry (Lujack, now DAYS’s Deimos), Jordan Clarke (Billy), Tina Sloan (Lillian), the late Larry Gates (H.B.) and James Rebhorn (Bradley).... Ed and Maureen, and Quint and Nola, tied the knot, while Morgan and Kelly, and Alan and Hope, ended their unions....Bradley raped stepdaughter Beth, who fled to New York with new love Phillip; Bradley also blabbed to Phillip that he was the bio son of Justin and Jackie, not Alan and Elizabeth.... Alan hired Reva to spoil Billy and Vanessa’s engagement.... Eli Simms murdered Bill Bauer.... A primetime TV movie, THE CRADLE WILL FALL, which aired on May 24 on CBS, featured GL characters including Ed, Bert and Hope.... Pamela K. Long and Gail Kobe became head writer and EP, respectively.
LOVING, co-created by Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland (Marland served as its original head writer) and produced by Joseph Stuart, debuted on June 26 with a two-hour prime-time affair featuring Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page, along with AMC’s Debbi Morgan (Angie) before moving to its late-morning time slot the next day (supported by a “Love in the Morning” ad campaign by ABC). The freshman cast of the show, which was set in Corinth, PA, included Bryan Cranston (BREAKING BAD) as Doug, James Kiberd as Mike, Wesley Addy as Cabot, Augusta Dabney as Isabelle, Lauren-Marie Taylor (Stacey) and Patricia Kalember (Merrill). Among its early stories was Lily’s sexual abuse at the hands of her father, Garth, which resulted in a split personality; Vietnam vet Mike’s post-traumatic stress disorder; and the murder of Johnny Forbes by his spurned ex, Amelia.
Judith Light ended her ONE LIFE TO LIVE run as Karen; Kim Zimmer (Echo) and Jacqueline Courtney (Pat) were also out. The late Michael Zaslow started playing David, and future COSBY SHOW mom Phylicia Rashad appeared as Courtney.... Asa and Bo proved to be father and son, after all (despite the claims of Bo’s late mom, Olympia); Asa married Delila, then divorced her and took Becky Lee to be his wife; Becky Lee also gave birth to Bo’s son, Drew....Clint cheated on Viki with Echo.... Robert S. Woods won the Lead Actor Daytime Emmy.
ABC reinstated Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer as head writers of RYAN’S HOPE (succeeding Mary Ryan Munisteri), then fired them again; Pat Falken Smith was named head writer, and Ellen Barrett was out as EP, replaced by Joseph Hardy.... The show got a visit from Kate Mulgrew (Mary), while Ilene Kristen (Delia) and Roscoe Born (Joe) left.... Divorced from Joe, Siobhan hooked up with Bill, then began an affair with Joe, who had remarried.... Frank and Jill finally tied the knot.... Maggie bedded Roger to keep him quiet about Bess being her mother (and Frank’s).... Louise Shaffer (Rae) won the Supporting Actress statuette at the Daytime Emmys, and the show won for writing.
On SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, Travis and Liza welcomed a son, Tourner; Travis’s scheming father, Rusty, was shot dead by Aja; Suzi wed Warren, who strayed with Wendy, who became pregnant; Warren tried to make a go of his marriage when he discovered that Suzi was poised to inherit four million bucks.
Brenda Dickson reclaimed the role of Y&R’s Jill from Deborah Adair; Andrea Evans debuted as Patty, and two long-running faves — Lauralee Bell (Christine, then called Cricket) and Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren) — began their runs.... After miscarrying and discovering his affair with Diane, Patty shot and paralyzed her husband, Jack....Dina (Jack, Traci and Ashley’s mom) was introduced....Footage of Nikki stripping was spliced into a porn called Hot Hips, while Victor was poisoned by old flame Eve....Paul became a private investigator.... Traci and Lauren vied for Danny’s attention.