Time Capsule 1996

ALL MY CHILDREN said good-bye to Grant Aleksander (Alec), Keith Hamilton Cobb (Noah), Felicity LaFortune (Laurel), Cady McClain (Dixie), Rosa Nevin (Cecily) and Sydney Penny (Julia), and when original cast member Mary Fickett retired, the role of Ruth was recast with Lee Meriwether. Daniel Cosgrove made his daytime debut as Scott, while Carrie Genzel was the new Skye and Michael Sabatino exited as evil doc Jonathan Kinder.... Newlyweds Noah and Julia went into Witness Protection; Adam and Liza, and Charlie and Cecily also said, “I do”.... Dixie and Tad split over his tryst with Liza.... Erica went to rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic and ended her marriage to Dimitri.... Edmund and Maria adopted Bobby and Kelsey’s baby, Sam, and Maria became pregnant after a one-night stand with Dimitri.... Laurel was shot dead by homophobic Jason, who was aiming for her gay brother, Michael.... Behind the scenes, Francesca James (ex-Kitty/ Kelly) was named executive producer, succeeding Felicia Minei Behr, and Millee Taggart became co-head writer with Lorraine Broderick.... At the Soap Opera Digest Awards, Noah and Julia were named Hottest Couple, Mark Consuelos (Mateo) won Male Newcomer and his wife, Kelly Ripa (Hayley), took home the Younger Lead Actress trophy, while Robin Mattson (Janet) snagged the Favorite Scene Stealer prize. Show Creator Agnes Nixon was honored with the Editors’ Award.... The show won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing.

Fans cried foul when Alice Barrett Mitchell (Frankie) and Barbara Berjer (Bridget) were killed off ANOTHER WORLD; Lindsay Lohan (Alli), Kim Rhodes (Cindy) and Robert Kelker-Kelly (playing Bobby, not his previous character, Sam) were introduced; and Grayson McCouch (Morgan) exited.... Paulina and Joe tied the knot (and became parents to baby Dante), but Josie and Gary’s attempt at marriage was foiled by gunman Cody.... Joe killed Fax, also known as The Bay City Stalker, who murdered Frankie.... John bedded Felicia, ending his marriage to Sharlene.... Matt and Donna split.... While working to prove that Ryan was killed by Grant, Vicky took an interest in Bobby, who had Ryan’s corneas.... Charlotte Savitz took over as EP from Jill Farren Phelps.... At the Daytime Emmys, Charles Keating (Carl) won Outstanding Lead Actor and Anna Holbrook was named Outstanding Supporting Actress; Mark Pinter (Grant) won the Digest Award for Outstanding Villain. AS THE WORLD TURNS wrote out Paolo Seganti (Damian), Scott DeFreitas (Andy), Dan Frazer (Dan), Yvonne Perry (Rosanna), Brooke Alexander (Samantha) and Maura West (Carly, now GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Ava). Newbies included Peter Parros (Ben), Roselyn Sanchez (Pilar) and Kerr Smith (Ryder), while Jon Hensley (Holden) and Anthony Herrera (James) returned.... Richard Culliton was replaced as head writer with Stephen Black and Henry Stern, who were axed; Stephen Demorest, Addie Walsh and Mel Brez took over.... Felicia Minei Behr was in as EP, succeeding John Valente.... Adam finally learned that his bio dad was Hal, not Tom.... Nancy was widowed again when Mac suffered a fatal heart attack.... Hungry for revenge against Lisa, who sued him for malpractice, John wooed her, then publicly dumped her.

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL fans picketed the studio when Jeff Trachta was replaced as Thorne by Winsor Harmon.... Ridge tracked down Brooke, who was suffering from a nervous breakdown, in Barbados.... Brooke got engaged to Grant, and Ridge popped the question to Taylor.... Bridget’s bio dad was proven to be Eric, not Ridge.... Eric and Sally were briefly engaged as he tried to stop her from using stolen Forrester designs.... Sheila poisoned Stephanie.... Saul passed away after the real-life death of portrayer Michael Fox.

Amelia Heinle (Steffi, now YOUNG AND RESTLESS’s Victoria) and Morgan Fairchild (Sydney) quit THE CITY; Jane Elliot debuted as her GH alter, Tracy; Melissa Dye (Molly) left.... “The Masquerader” (revealed to be an ex-mental patient posing as Molly) wreaked havoc.... Carla and Tony entered into a loveless marriage, while Angie walked down the aisle with Jesse lookalike Jacob.... In a daytime first, Azure C. came out as transsexual.... On November 22, ABC announced that it was pulling the plug on the lowrated show.

DAYS OUR LIVES welcomed Lauren Koslow aboard as Kate, while Eileen Davidson (now Y&R’s Ashley) began playing a second character, Kristen look-alike Susan.... In Aremid, John narrowly avoided a death sentence when he was convicted of Tony’s murder.... Bo and Hope got engaged, as did John and Kristen.... Stefano held Marlena hostage in an underground cage in Paris.... Sami and Austin married to recover Will, who had been kidnapped.... Lexie learned that her birth parents were Stefano and Celeste.... At the Digest Awards, DAYS nabbed Favorite Show, Peter Reckell (Bo) won Hottest Male Star, Louise Sorel (Vivian) won Supporting Actress and the Villainess prize went to Alison Sweeney (Sami).

GH mourned three cast members, original player John Beradino (Steve), Rosalind Cash (Mary Mae) and Lee Mathis (Jon), and scripted deaths for all three characters (Jon and Mathis both succumbed to AIDS). The show hosted the daytime debuts of Sarah Brown (Carly), Tyler Christopher (Nikolas) and Ingo Rademacher (Jax) and hired Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) and Stephen Nichols (Stefan, now DAYS’s Steve), while Denise Alexander (Lesley) and Jane Elliot (Tracy) returned, and Kimberly McCullough (Robin) and Rena Sofer (Lois, now B&B’s Quinn) exited. The show also killed off Lilly Melgar (Lily) and Leigh J. McCloskey (Damian, who was murdered by Justus), and introduced Tuc Watkins as Pierce.... Sonny wed pregnant Lily, but she was killed in a car bomb meant for him just as Brenda eloped with Jax. Their union was invalidated when Sonny produced Jax’s thought-to-be-dead first wife, Miranda.... Bobbie’s scheming longlost daughter, Carly, arrived, and seduced her hubby, Tony.... Brain-damaged by an accident caused by drunk-driving A.J., Jason became estranged from the Quartermaines, took a job working for Sonny, and hooked up with both Carly and Robin.... Laura reunited with her secret son, Nikolas, whose bone marrow saved leukemia-stricken Lulu, and her ex-lover, Stefan Cassadine, who wed Bobbie after she divorced Tony.... Ned and Lois split after welcoming baby Brook Lynn.... Robert Guza, Jr. and Karen Harris succeeded Claire Labine as co-head writers, and the show aired a special prime-time episode, TWIST OF FATE.... GH nabbed Daytime Emmys for Best Show and Younger Actress Kimberly McCullough, and Digest Awards for Lead Actor Maurice Benard (Sonny), Hottest Female Star Lynn Herring (Lucy) and Supporting Actor Stuart Damon (Alan). Grant Aleksander (Phillip), Jordan Clarke (Billy) and Fiona Hutchison (Jenna) were back on GUIDING LIGHT; Vincent Irizarry (Nick), Amelia Marshall (Gilly), Peter Simon (Ed) and Maeve Kinkead (Vanessa) left; SEARCH FOR TOMORROW legend Mary Stuart (ex-Jo) joined the Springfield ranks as Meta; Michael Tylo (Quint) made a brief comeback; Frank Grillo (Hart) and Hayden Panettiere (Lizzie) debuted; and Michael Dietz was the new Alan-Michael when Rick Hearst decided to depart.... Lucy and Alan-Michael swapped vows, as did Reva and Buzz.... Blake had twins, Kevin and Jason, who were sired by different daddies (hubby Ross and one-night-stand partner Rick); Holly and Fletcher’s daughter, Meg, was born with Down syndrome.... Vanessa faked her death when she found out she was suffering from a degenerative illness.... Paul Rauch was tapped as EP, while Megan McTavish was replaced as head writer by Michael Conforti and Victor Miller.... Jerry verDorn (Ross) was named Outstanding Supporting Actor at the Daytime Emmys, while Kevin Mambo (Marcus) won Younger Actor.

On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Thom Christopher was in and out as Carlo, Kevin Stapleton debuted as the 10th Kevin, and Tuc Watkins (David) and Krista Tesreau (Tina) left.... Erika Slezak (Viki) won another Lead Actress trophy at the Daytime Emmys.... After Blair gave birth to their daughter, Starr, Todd returned from the dead and caught Blair in a compromising position with Patrick, whose child she inconveniently became pregnant with.... Marty wed Dylan, then left him for Patrick, and Alex remarried Carlo, who was then murdered.... Kevin put the moves on married Cassie.... Kelly lost her virginity to Joey.... Maxine Levinson took over as EP from Susan Bedsow Horgan, while Leah Laiman, Jean Passanante and Peggy Sloane shared head-writing duties after the departure of Michael Malone (Laiman exited in December).

Don Diamont (now B&B’s Bill) and Beth Maitland left Y&R as Brad and Traci, while Signy Coleman (Hope) and Alex Donnelley (Diane) returned, Josie Davis debuted as Grace, Marla Adams visited as Dina, and Shari Shattuck was in as Ashley No. 3.... Nick and Sharon became Mr. and Mrs., Christine wed Paul, and Malcolm’s new wife, Keesha, died from AIDS.... Nathan was fatally struck by a car.... Break-ups were all the rage, with Danny and Phyllis, Victoria and Cole, Nina and Ryan, John and Jill, and Nikki and Brad all calling it quits.... Mari Jo shot Victor.... Fans voted Joshua Morrow (Nick) as Outstanding Younger Lead Actor, and Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, now GH’s Nina) as Outstanding Female Newcomer, at the Digest Awards.