ALL MY CHILDREN recast the role of Dixie with Cady
McClain and welcomed back Michael E. Knight (Tad),
while Darnell Williams (Jesse) left.... Brooke and Adam
tied the knot; so did Natalie and Jeremy, and Stuart
and AIDS-afflicted Cindy. Erica and Travis welcomed
a daughter, Bianca, before they swapped vows....
Brooke and Tom’s young daughter, Laura, was
struck and killed by a drunk driver.... Angie mourned
when Jesse was shot and killed in the line of duty....
AMC’s writing team nabbed the Daytime Emmy; so
did David Canary (Adam/Stuart) as Lead Actor and
Ellen Wheeler (Cindy) as Supporting Actress. Winsor
Washam left the show as co-head writer, leaving
Lorraine Broderick to work as a solo act.
Recasts were all the rage on
ANOTHER WORLD, which introduced
Matt Crane (Matt), Carmen Duncan
(Iris) and Anna Holbrook (Sharlene);
Tom Eplin (Jake) and Gretchen
Oehler (Vivian) returned.... Felicia wed
Mitch; Donna remarried Michael; Sam
and Amanda said, “I do” and welcomed baby Alli.... Reginald Love died after falling
off a roof; he left his fortune to Vicky, who was pregnant either by Jamie (who popped
the question) or Marley’s hubby, Jake.... Dawn Rollo succumbed to AIDS.... Matt discovered
that Mitch, not Mac, was his bio dad.... Cass and Felicia mourned the death of
their pal Wally.... Head Writer Margaret DePriest exited; Sheri Anderson was tapped to
replace her, but left; former head writer Harding Lemay returned on a temporary basis
before Donna Swajeski was named to the top slot.
Julianne Moore (Frannie/Sabrina), Brian Bloom
(Dusty), Jon Hensley (Holden), and Finn Carter
(Sierra) checked out of AS THE WORLD TURNS,
while Alice Haining (Angel), Ming-Na (Lien)
and Patrick Tovatt (Cal) debuted.... The show
introduced daytime’s first out gay male, fashion
designer Hank.... Hal and Barbara wed; Holden
and Emily’s short-lived marriage ended when
she miscarried; widow Nancy married Dan....
Margo passed off her baby boy, Adam, who was
sired by Hal, as Tom’s. Tom was shocked by the
arrival of half-Vietnamese Lien, the daughter
he never knew he had.... Meg hooked up with
Josh.... Andy struggled with alcoholism....
Laurence Caso was in as EP, replacing Robert
Calhoun.... Julianne Moore won the Outstanding
Ingenue Emmy.
On BOLD AND
BEAUTIFUL, Kristen
eloped with Clarke, who
fathered Margo’s new
baby, Mark.... Caroline
slept with brother-inlaw
Ridge, and when
Thorne found out, he
shot Ridge while under
the influence of pills
and alcohol; Stephanie
took the rap.... Eric
asked Steph for a
divorce so he could
be with Beth.... Steph
and Eric’s presumeddead
daughter,
microcephalic Angela,
was revealed to be
alive.... Brooke and Ridge got
engaged.... Nude pics of Donna
were published in Temptation
magazine, courtesy of Bill
Spencer, Sr.... Lee Phillip Bell was
named as one of the show’s
EPs.
Billy Warlock (Frankie) and
Lisa Trusel (Melissa) exited
DAYS OF OUR LIVES.... After
Kayla divorced Jack (who
raped her), she married Steve,
overcoming her temporary
status as deaf and mute....
Tom and Alice renewed their
vows after discovering that
their first ceremony 50 years
prior was invalid.... Justin got
Anjelica pregnant; she married
Neil.... Eve’s face was
slashed by the Riverfront
Knifer (Harper, who had also attacked Kayla and killed Grace
and Janice).... Jennifer and Frankie split.... Warlock won the
Emmy for Outstanding Younger Leading Man.... The show
cleaned up at the Soap Opera Digest Awards, with winners
including Stephen Nichols (Steve), Michael T. Weiss
(ex-Mike) and Arleen Sorkin (ex-Calliope).
Jack Wagner (Frisco) took a break from
GENERAL HOSPITAL, which wrote out Brian
Patrick Clarke (Grant); Kin Shriner came back as
Scotty; Kurt McKinney debuted as Ned and Tonja
Walker came aboard as Olivia Jerome.... Tom
and Simone became daytime’s first interracial
spouses, while at Sean and Tiffany’s wacky nups,
the groom learned that the bride was born Elsie
Mae Crumholtz.... Frisco was presumed dead
on a WSB mission.... Grant murdered Filomena;
eyewitness Robin was briefly catatonic.... Julian
was presumed dead, but popped up at his own
grave.... Monica bedded tennis pro Ward — who
turned out to be sister-in-law Tracy’s son, Ned....
Duke drunkenly slept with Olivia, who caused
Anna to miscarry.... Head Writers Ann Marcus and
Norma Monty were axed.
GUIDING LIGHT tapped Daniel Pilon to succeed
Chris Bernau as Alan; Maureen Garrett (Holly)
returned; Krista Tesreau (Mindy) exited.... Alan wed
a
comatose Reva, who had the union annulled;
Maeve and Fletcher wed (but she soon died in a
plane crash); Mindy tied the knot with Will; and Rick
put a ring on Meredith’s finger, unaware she was
pregnant by Phillip; Josh’s wife, Sonni, turned out
to
actually be Solita, Sonni’s twin.... Holly returned
to Springfield and reunited with daughter Christina,
who now went by Blake.... Kim Zimmer (Reva) won
the Lead Actress prize at the Digest Awards.
Lisa Peluso replaced Roya Megnot as
LOVING’s Ava; Richard Steinmetz (Jeff) and
Robert Tyler (Trucker) debuted.... Trisha was
widowed when Steve died keeping Stacey
and JJ safe during a bank robbery.... Rick
turned out to be Gwyneth’s son with Clay....
Ava realized that hubby “Clay” was actually an
impostor, Alex, and agreed to keep quiet, but
Alex’s first wife, Egypt, arrived to cause trouble....
Jim and Shana remarried.... Stacey left
Jack over his affair with Lily.... Jeff slept with
Gwyneth before falling for her daughter, Trisha.
Robert S. Woods returned
to ONE LIFE TO LIVE as
Bo; Jessica Tuck was
introduced as Megan;
Roma Downey made her
American TV debut as
Joanna; Jill Larson played
loony Ursula.... Clint
time-traveled to 1888,
where he took up with
Viki’s great-grandmother,
Ginny; Viki time-traveled
in time to stop the wedding
and the duo returned
to the present.... After a
botched wedding to Max,
Tina remarried Cord in
a double ceremony with
Asa and Renee; Cord
and Tina also reunited
with their missing son,
C.J. ...Gabrielle wed
Max’s brother, Steve, who
subsequently died; Max
dated soap star Megan....
Viki learned that she had
given birth to a daughter
when she was in high
school and Victor had
hired someone to erase
her memory of the event.
John Gabriel (Seneca) and Felicity
LaFortune (Leigh) returned to RYAN’S
HOPE, and Roscoe Born popped in as
Joe; Nancy Addison Altman (Jillian)
exited; Regis Philbin ended his stint
as politician Malachy; Rosemary
Prinz joined the show as a recast
Sister Mary Joel.... Joseph Hardy
was replaced as EP with Felicia Minei
Behr.... Maggie cheated on Roger....
Leigh and Jack got engaged and he
disovered that Sister Mary is his birth
mother.... Helen Gallagher (Maeve) won
the Lead Actress Emmy.... In October,
ABC announced the cancellation of the
series (which would air into 1989). “We
have done our best to keep RYAN’S
HOPE on the air,” Jo Ann Emmerich,
ABC’s vice president of daytime programming,
said at the time. “Despite
the falling ratings, there has been no
stinting on talent in front of or behind
the camera.”
SANTA BARBARA won its first Emmy
for Outstanding Drama. The show
said good-bye to Robin Wright (Kelly),
Justin Deas (Keith) and Nicolas Coster
(Lionel), but introduced Joe Marinelli
(Bunny) and Signy Coleman (Celeste)
and rehired Louise Sorel (Augusta);
Eva La Rue made her soap debut as
Margot.... Cruz and Eden were married
at long last and they time-traveled
to 1962 on their honeymoon; he also
found out that Chip was his son....
Eden was raped and she learned she
was pregnant.... C.C. and Sophia
divorced.... Amnesiac Mason thought
he was a crooner named Sonny
Sprockett, but eventually reunited with
Julia.... Keith left town (and new wife
Gina).... Deas won the Supporting
Actor Emmy for his work as Keith;
Coster won in that category at the
Digest
Awards.
Photo credit: New World Television
Eileen
Davidson
quit
YOUNG
AND
RESTLESS as Ashley;
the role was recast with
Brenda Epperson....
John wed Cricket’s
mother, Jessica, who
had AIDS; Katherine
married Rex.... Leanna
penned Ruthless, Victor’s unauthorized
biography, but her marriage to the
tycoon was invalid.... Brad was held hostage by
his unhinged ex, Lisa.... Phillip III was born to Nina
and Phillip.... Ashley’s new hubby, Steven, died....
Nikki learned that she was pregnant by Victor....
Paul fell for married Cassandra.... The show
began its reign as No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings.
The Writers’
Guild of
America went
on strike,
which lasted
from March
7 to August 7
and affected
every soap.