ALL MY CHILDREN introduced
Vincent Irizarry (now Deimos,
DAYS OF OUR LIVES) as David
and Esta TerBlanche as Gillian;
Eva La Rue (Maria) quit; and Jim
was recast with David Forsyth
when Roscoe Born walked off
the set.... Hayley and Mateo
became Mr. and Mrs. ... After
Maria gave birth to Maddie (who
was proven to be Edmund’s bio
daughter, not Dimitri’s), Erica
kidnapped her and passed
her off as a Russian newborn.
(Ultimately, the Greys got her
back.) Maria was then killed in
a plane crash.... Liza and Adam
split.... Amanda found out that
Janet is her bio mom.... Bianca developed anorexia.... Megan McTavish returned
as head writer, replacing Lorraine Broderick and Millee Taggart.... AMC tied for the
Writing Daytime Emmy with YOUNG AND RESTLESS, while Marcy Walker (Liza)
picked up the Soap Opera Digest Award for Supporting Actress.
Robin Christopher (Lorna), Matt Crane (Matt), David Forsyth (John), Anna Holbrook (Sharlene), John
Bolger (Gabe), Lindsay Lohan (Alli) and Robert Kelker-Kelly (Bobby) left ANOTHER WORLD, which
cast Lisa Peluso (Lila) and welcomed back John Aprea (ex-Lucas) as a new character, Alexander....
Paul Michael Valley reprised Ryan for a short arc that saw Vicky and Ryan swapping vows in heaven;
she then said, “I do,” to Jake back on earth.... Grant wed Cindy, and Gary and Josie made it official....
Carl and Rachel expanded their family with late-in-life twins Cory and Elizabeth.... Evil Commissioner
Raines murdered Gabe before Joe killed him.... John and Sharlene divorced.... Tom Eplin (Jake) was
named Male Showstopper at the Digest Awards.... The writing team underwent multiple shake-ups,
with Elizabeth Page, Tom King and Craig Carlson taking over from Margaret DePriest; who were then
axed to make way for Michael Malone, who was replaced eight months later by Richard Culliton.
AS THE WORLD TURNS hosted the soap debuts of Lesli Kay (Molly) and
Michael Park (Jack); Scott DeFreitas (Andy), Paolo Seganti (Damian) and Maura
West (Carly, now GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Ava) returned; Shawn Christian left as
Mike; Emmy Rossum debuted as Abigail; and fan protest over the recasting of
Allyson Rice-Taylor’s Connor with Susan Batten led Batten to quit.... Jessica
Klein was in as head writer, replacing Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez and Addie
Walsh. The trio returned when Klein tendered her resignation.... Jack and Carly’s
romance kicked off as she sought a hubby and a pregnancy to get her hands on
a $50 million trust fund.... Damian returned from the dead.... Lily and Holden’s
engagement ended when she caught him in bed with Molly (mom of his surprise
teen daughter, Abigail). At his wedding to Lily, Diego was shot dead (by Kirk)....
Barbara became Mrs. John Dixon and the couple mourned the passing of their
prematurely born son, Johnny.
Jacob Young
(Rick) and Adrienne
Frantz (Amber) kicked
off their BOLD AND
BEAUTIFUL careers,
while Sandra Ferguson
pinch-hit for Katherine
Kelly Lang as Brooke
and Tristan Rogers
(now Colin, Y&R)
popped in as Hunter....
Sally derailed the Eric/
Stephanie wedding
by arranging for a
salacious pic of the groom with Lauren to land
in the minister’s Bible; Sheila and James successfully
tied the knot (and they had a baby
girl, Mary), while Grant and Brooke’s union was
proved to be invalid.... After Macy divorced Thorne,
he proposed to Taylor.... Supporting Actor Ian
Buchanan (James) won the show’s first acting
Daytime Emmy.
Before THE
CITY faded to
black on March
28, Buck and
Tess wed, Tracy
was a merry
widow when
Gino kicked the
bucket, and
Molly murdered
Sydney.
Jensen Ackles joined DAYS OUR LIVES
as Eric, while John Aniston exited as Victor,
Eileen Davidson (now Y&R’s Ashley) began
playing Sister Mary Moira and Thomas (in
addition to Kristen and Susan), Josh Taylor
(who’d formerly played Chris) began his
Roman run, Steve Wilder replaced Mark
Valley as Jack, and Jason Brooks was back
as Peter.... Carrie interrupted Sami and
Austin’s nups and married him herself, and
Will’s bio dad was revealed to be Lucas, not
Austin.... Susan gave birth to Stefano’s son,
John Black, Jr., later known as EJ.... Bo was
forced to wed Billie.... Roman’s return from
the dead spoiled John and Marlena’s wouldbe
nups.... Kate’s past as a hooker was
exposed.... DAYS’s John wed Susan, who
he believed was Kristen, in Elvis-themed
nups — but the true identity of the bride was exposed at the reception, replete with flying
fake teeth.... Head Writer James E. Reilly stepped down to focus on creating a new
sudser for NBC; Sally Sussman succeeded him.... Melissa Reeves (Jennifer) and Corday
Productions settled the lawsuit resulting from her 1995 exit.... At the Digest Awards,
DAYS nabbed Hottest Romance (Austin Peck and Christie Clark’s Austin and Carrie),
Female Showstopper Louise Sorel (Vivian) and Villain Joseph Mascolo (Stefano).
Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) debuted on GH, which saw the exits of Maurice Benard
(Sonny), Matthew Ashford (Tom) and Sean Kanan (A.J., who was recast with Billy Warlock);
Kimberly McCullough was back in and back out as Robin.... Michael was the product of
Carly and A.J.’s one-night stand, though she named Tony, then Jason, as the daddy; and
Bobbie finally learned that she is Carly’s mom.... Sonny left Brenda at the altar.... Liz set her
sights on Lucky, while Ned and Alexis hooked up, and Stefan courted Katherine.... Alan got
hooked on pain pills.... Alexis and Stefan were revealed to be half siblings.... Janet Iacobuzio
and Christopher Whitesell were in as
head writers, replacing Richard Culliton
and Karen Harris, but they were ultimately
axed in favor of returning chief
scribe Robert Guza, Jr. ... GH took home
Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Drama
and Younger Actress Sarah Brown (Carly),
and Digest Awards for Favorite Show,
Lead Actress Genie Francis (Laura),
Hottest Male Star Ingo Rademacher
(Jax), Hottest Female Star Vanessa
Marcil (Brenda), Male Newcomer Tyler
Christopher (Nikolas) and Younger Lead
Actor Steve Burton (Jason)
GUIDING LIGHT brought
back fan faves Beth Ehlers
(Harley), Maeve Kinkead
(Vanessa) and Beth
Chamberlin (Beth), while
beloved vet Michael Zaslow
became ill (with ALS, which
would claim his life in 1998),
and the show recast his role,
Roger, with Dennis Parlato.
Meanwhile, Laura Wright (now
GH’s Carly) debuted as Cassie,
Reva’s surprise half sis; Taye
Diggs briefly played “Sugar”;
Robert Gentry reprised the role of Ed; Paulo Benedeti and Tammy Blanchard joined
as Jesse and Drew; Hunt Block (Ben, Ross’s half brother) began; and Melissa
Hayden (Bridget), Michael Dietz (Alan-Michael) and Sonia Satra (Lucy) exited....
H.B. passed away after portrayer Larry Gates’s death.... Annie made it look like
Reva had caused her miscarriage.... Matt and Vanessa were reunited.... Phillip and
Harley became an item.... Justin Deas (Buzz) and Kevin Mambo (Marcus) received
Daytime Emmys for Lead Actor and Younger Actor, respectively.... Paul Rauch took
over as executive producer, succeeding Michael Laibson; Head Writers Michael
Conforti, Victor Miller and Nancy Williams Watt were replaced by James Harmon
Brown and Barbara Esensten; and the show celebrated major milestones: the 60th
anniversary of its radio debut and the 45th anniversary of its move to TV.
Photo credit: Dana Belcher
Nathan Fillion (Joey), Thorsten Kaye (Patrick,
now B&B’s Ridge), Susan Haskell (Marty), Tonja
Walker (Alex), John Loprieno (Cord), Kamar
de los Reyes (Antonio) and Crystal Chappell
(Maggie) all left ONE LIFE TO LIVE; newbies
included Florencia Lozano (Téa), Stephen
Markle (Mel) and Elisabeth Röhm (Dorothy); and
Don Jeffcoat was cast as Joey No. 5.... Patrick
and pregnant Marty wed and left town after faking
his death.... Todd paid Téa five million bucks
to marry him and improve his odds of winning
custody of Starr, whose leukemia was cured by a
bone marrow donation from Alex after Kelly accidentally
mowed down Blair, causing her to lose
Brendan, her unborn son by Patrick; Blair pushed
the new Mrs. Manning out of a window.... Alex
copped to killing Carlo, but the true victim
proved to be his twin, Mortimer.... Cassie and
Andrew divorced.... Claire Labine and her son,
Matthew, became the new head writers, and Jill
Farren Phelps replaced Maxine Levinson as EP.
GH spin-off PORT CHARLES, created
by Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton and
Wendy Riche, debuted on June 1 with
a prime-time special, but Lynn Latham
soon replaced the Cullitons as head writer.
The original cast featured GH imports
Lynn Herring (Lucy), Jon Lindstrom
(Kevin) and Kin Shriner (Scott), soap vet
Debbi Morgan (Ellen), Mitch Longley
(Matt), Julie Pinson (Eve), Michael Dietz
(Joe), Carly Schroeder (Serena), Jay
Pickett (Frank), Nolan North (Chris),
Rib Hillis (Jake) and Jennifer Hammon
(Karen), with Wayne Northrop (Herring’s
real-life spouse) soon joining as Rex....
Maniacal Greg Cooper
SUNSET BEACH, created by Josh Griffith, Robert
Guza, Jr. and Charles Pratt, Jr., and executiveproduced
by Aaron Spelling, E. Duke Vincent and
Gary Tomlin, with James E. Reilly serving as executive
story consultant, debuted on NBC on January
6. Its original cast included Kathleen Noone (Bette),
Clive Robertson (Ben), Susan Ward (Meg), Timothy
Adams (Casey), Sam Behrens (Greg), Lesley-
Anne Down (Olivia), Jason George (Michael),
Sherri Saum (Vanessa), Sarah Buxton (Annie) and
Randy Spelling (Sean); Eddie Cibrian (Cole) and
Barbara Mandrell (Alexandra) soon joined.... Meg
dumped cheating Tim and got engaged to widower
Ben.... Married
Olivia bedded
jewel thief Cole,
who fell in love
with her daughter,
Caitlin; both ladies
became pregnant,
but Caitlin miscarried....
Annie faked
her death after
being accused of
offing her wealthy
pop, Del.... Virginia
schemed to thwart
the Michael/Vanessa
romance.
Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, now GH’s
Nina) and Heather Tom (Victoria, now
B&B’s Katie) left Y&R; their roles
were recast with Sandra Nelson and
Sarah Aldrich, respectively, but Tom
soon returned. Christian J. LeBlanc
(
Michael) came back; Jennifer
Gareis was in as Grace; and Signy
Coleman (Hope) left.... Nikki wed
Josh, Victor married Diane, and Olivia
tied the knot with Malcolm.... Nick
and Sharon became parents to little
Noah. Grace arrived with Sharon’s
secret daughter, Cassie, and bedded
Nick.... Heartbroken over Ryan, Nina
shot herself.... Neil caught Drucilla
secretly taking birth control pills....
Phyllis and Michael hit the sheets,
as did Cole and Ashley.... Kay Alden
was named head writer, alongside
William J. Bell.... Jess Walton (Jill)
won the Daytime Emmy for Lead
Actress, Supporting Actress went to
Michelle Stafford, and Y&R tied with
AMC for the Writing trophy.... At the
Digest Awards, Eric Braeden (Victor)
won Lead Actor, Doug Davidson (Paul)
picked up Supporting Actor, Michelle
Stafford was named Outstanding
Villainess, and Heather Tom won
Younger Lead Actress.