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.
Photo credit: Barry Morganstein
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.