On ALL MY CHILDREN, Erica entered into her third marriage (this time withTom Cudahy), and they traipsed off to St. Croix for their honeymoon, the show’s first international location shoot....Tad officially became a Martin when Ruth and Joe adopted him....The secret of little Phillip’s paternity finally went wide when a drunken Phoebe blurted out that Phil, not Chuck, was the boy’s father....Susan Lucci (Erica) received her first Outstanding Actress Daytime Emmy nomination....Linc fell for Kelly, the surprise twin of his late wife, Kitty, also played by Francesca James.... Jorn Winther replaced Bud
Kloss as executive producer.
Ray Liotta (pictured) joined ANOTHER WORLD as Joey Perrini....Rachel and Mac welcomed a baby girl, Amanda....Laurie Heineman (Sharlene) won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Actress....The show briefly tied ATWT for No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings. Beverlee McKinsey (Iris, Favorite Villainess) and Victoria Wyndham (Rachel, Outstanding Actress) both won Soapys.
Colleen Zenk joined AS THE WORLD TURNS as Barbara Ryan.... Ralph Ellis and Eugenie Hunt succeeded Robert Soderberg and Edith Sommer as head writers.... Susan and Dan (Kim’s husband) smooched.
DALLAS made its debut on April 2 on CBS. Season 1 featured Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie), Patrick Duffy (Bobby), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen), Larry Hagman (J.R.), Victoria Principal (Pam) and Charlene Tilton (Lucy) as the venerable Ewings.
THE DOCTORS’s head writers, Mel and Ethel Brez, were replaced by Linda
Grover, Elizabeth Levin and David Cherrill.... James Pritchett (Matt) won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Actor.
Photo credit: Lorimar Productions
DAYS OF OUR LIVES took home its first Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, and it also netted the Soapy Award for Favorite Soap....Tracey E. Bregman, pictured, (now YOUNG AND RESTLESS’s Lauren) made her daytime debut as Don Craig’s surprise daughter, Donna.... Marlena left Don at the altar, and Bill and Laura split; Julie was raped by Larry, then exonerated of his murder....Soapys were also awarded to Jed Allan (Don, Outstanding Actor), Josh Taylor (then-Chris, now Roman, Most Exciting New Actor), Frances Reid (Alice, Favorite Actress in a Mature Role) and Macdonald Carey (Tom, Favorite Actor in a Mature Role).
Gloria Monty began her legendary rehaul of GENERAL HOSPITAL when she took over the reins as executive producer. She made some mighty shrewd hires, adding Jane Elliot (Tracy), Anthony Geary (Luke), Anna Lee (Lila) and David Lewis (Edward)....Alan and Monica got hitched, despite her lingering attraction to Rick, and Jeff married Heather Webber.... Laura made a play for the much older David Hamilton — and accidentally killed him — and Bobbie summoned brother Luke to town to break up Scotty and Laura.
On GUIDING LIGHT, Roger raped Rita, who married Ed, and Alan divorced his wife,
Elizabeth... Ed Bryce exited the show as Bill Bauer.
ONE LIFE TO LIVE introduced Andrea Evans as Tina, who became the ward of Viki (who didn’t yet know they were sisters), Kim Zimmer (pictured) as Bonnie (and she met her future husband, fellow newbie A.C. Weary, who played Dick), and Linda Dano (pictured) as Gretel Cummings....Marco Dane became Karen’s pimp — then was seemingly murdered....
Carla (wed to Ed) smooched her boss, Jack.... The show expanded to an hour, and Sam Hall was named Gordon Russell’s co-head writer.
RYAN’S HOPE won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing....Justin Deas checked out as Bucky, while Nell Carter debuted as Ethel....The show introduced the final
offspring of Johnny and Maeve, Siobhan (originally played by Sarah Felder).... Jillian and Seneca wed.
Marcia McCabe (Sunny) and
Christopher Goutman (Mark) debuted on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (and later married in real life). Other notable hires were John Aniston (now DAYS’s Victor) as Martin, and Rod Arrants as Travis.... Joyce and John William Corrington were named
co-head writers.
Doug Davidson, now Y&R’s longest-running cast member, began his run as Paul, who got an STD from fellow newbie Nikki (then played by Erica Hope).... Leslie got pregnant by brother-in-law Lance.... Original cast members Tom Hallick and Trish Stewart left as Brad and Chris.... Snapper fell for Nikki’s older sister, Roberta Leighton’s Casey.