Future Daytime Emmy winners Debbi Morgan and Michael E. Knight (ex-Simon, YOUNG AND RESTLESS) joined ALL MY CHILDREN as Angie and Tad, respectively. The show’s creator, Agnes Nixon, stepped down as executive producer, and her co-EP, Jorn Winther, departed the series. Jacqueline Babbin took over as EP, while Wisner Washam was named the show’s head writer. Babbin’s cat, Bonkers, played himself (but on the show, Bonkers belonged to Daisy).... Two supercouples (Angie and Jesse, and Greg and Jenny) were born. Spiteful Liza falsely accused Jesse of rape, and exposed to Jenny that her father was in jail for committing rape, so Jenny and Jesse fled to New York City.... Trapped together in a Swiss avalanche, Donna (Mrs. Palmer Cortlandt) slept with Chuck, resulting in a son, Palmer John (she thought his namesake was the dad).... Evil Ray Gardner blew himself up....A con woman, aptly named Connie, passed herself off as Erica’s half sister, Silver.... Estelle gave birth to Emily Ann, her daughter by Billy Clyde, and gave her to Donna and Benny to raise.... Dorothy Lyman (Opal) nabbed the Daytime Emmy for Supporting Actress.... At Soap Opera Digest’s Soapy Awards, Kim Delaney (Jenny) was named Exciting New Actress.
ANOTHER WORLD welcomed Stephen Schnetzer as Cass, Morgan Freeman as Roy and Kyra Sedgwick as Julia; Beverly Penberthy, a 15-year vet, left as Pat, and William Gray Espy left as Mitch.... L. Virginia Browne was out as head writer; Robert Soderberg was in.... Sandy and Cecile divorced, but they welcomed a daughter, Maggie.
Meg Ryan (Betsy) and Scott Bryce (Craig) made their AS THE WORLD TURNS debuts. Bridget and Jerome Dobson were named the show’s new head writers....Tom and Margo fell in love (and battled criminal mastermind Mr. Big), as did Steve and Betsy.... James tried to drive Barbara crazy to win custody of Paul....Lisa took a new hubby, Whit McColl.... Jeff and Annie became parents to quadruplets, and Jeff became dependent on amphetamines.
CBS debuted a new sudser, CAPITOL, on March 26. The show was created by Stephen and Elinor Karpf and its EP was John Conboy. Its earliest stars included Debrah Farentino as Sloane, Tonja Walker Davidson as Lizbeth and Constance Towers (later GH’s Helena) as Clarissa.
Joseph Mascolo (Stefano), Leann Hunley (Anna), John de Lancie (Eugene), FULLER HOUSE’s Andrea Barber (Carrie) and Lisa Trusel (Melissa) made their DAYS OF OUR LIVES debuts, as did Renee Jones (who would later become a fixture as Lexie), playing Nikki; Andrea Hall briefly reprised Samantha.... Pat Falken Smith ceded the head-writing job to Margaret DePriest and Sheri Anderson....Roman and Marlena’s love story began, and his ex, Anna, arrived with their daughter,Carrie.... Jake, the Salem Strangler, offed Samantha, thinking she was Marlena (and NBC was flooded with protests before his mistake was revealed on air), and also murdered Mary, then killed himself.... Stefano discovered that he had an adult daughter, Renee.... Deidre Hall (Marlena) won the Soapy for Favorite Actress.
The final episode of THE DOCTORS aired on December 31 (it debuted on April 1, 1963, the same day as GENERAL HOSPITAL). On the last show, Jeff and Adrienne wed; Felicia and Paul were arrested for Billy’s murder; Mike and Kit got engaged; and Matt and Maggie planned another trip down the aisle.
Genie Francis quit GENERAL HOSPITAL as Laura, and the show welcomed several stars in the making to its ranks: Demi Moore (Jackie), Emma Samms (Holly), John Stamos (Blackie, who won the Soapy for Exciting New Actor) and Janine Turner (Laura).... Following Pat Falken Smith’s exit as head writer, EP Gloria Monty served as co-head writer with Robert J. Shaw; the job then went to TEXAS creators, Joyce and John William Corrington, then to Anne Howard Bailey.... While mourning a presumed-dead Laura (whose kidnapper, David, suffered a fatal fall), Luke got involved with British beauty Holly.... Monica and Alan reconciled and battled Susan and her new husband, Scotty, for custody of Jason.... Rick and Lesley welcomed troubled teen Blackie into their home.... Anthony Geary (Luke) won his first Lead Actor Daytime Emmy (he also netted the Soapy for Outstanding Actor, and Favorite Actor/Mature Role honors went to David Lewis (Edward).... GH won the Soapy for Best Soap.
Grant Aleksander began his GUIDING LIGHT run as Phillip, while Jane Elliot (now GH’s Tracy) left as Carrie, who married Ross and developed multiple personality disorder....Douglas Marland resigned as head writer; Pat Falken Smith got the job.... Nola fell hard for Quint (who was revealed to be Henry’s son and Vanessa’s half brother), and gave birth to Floyd’s daughter, Anastasia.... Josh tried to split up Morgan and Kelly, and Ed dated Maureen.... Jackie Marler was killed in a plane crash.... GL took home Emmys for Outstanding Daytime Drama, Writing and Directing.... The show celebrated the 30th anniversary of its TV debut, and the 45th anniversary of its radio bow.
Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis, GH) left her ONE LIFE TO LIVE role, Beverly, while Matthew Ashford was tapped to play Drew.... Sam Hall and Henry Slesar replaced Peggy O’Shea at the head of the writing team.... Viki tied the knot with Clint (and kicked Dorian out of Llanfair), while her brother, Tony, married Pat.... Ivan Kipling implanted a mind-control device in Karen.... After a prolonged baby switch, Katrina got her daughter, Mary, back from Jenny....Villain Ted Clayton was shot dead.... Robin Strasser (Dorian) claimed the Daytime Emmy for Lead Actress.
RYAN’S HOPE welcomed back Ilene Kristen as Delia.... Creators Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer were out as co-EPs, replaced by Ellen Barrett, and as co-head writers (Mary Munisteri took over that role).
SEARCH FOR TOMORROW aired its last episode on CBS on March 26, moving to NBC on March 29.
TEXAS ended its brief run on December 31, despite the creative turnaround its new head writer, Pamela K. Long (who played Ashley on the show), had achieved.
As YOUNG AND RESTLESS shifted its focus from the Brooks and Foster families to the Newman and Abbotts, Eileen Davidson (Ashley), Jerry Douglas (John, replacing Brett Halsey), Beth Maitland (Traci), Patty Weaver (Gina) and Alex Donnelley (Diane) joined the show, while original cast members Jaime Lyn Bauer (Lauralee) and Victoria Mallory (Leslie) exited, as did David Hasselhoff (Snapper).... John Conboy left as EP and was replaced by H. Wesley Kenney.... Nikki welcomed a daughter, Victoria (who was Victor’s, unbeknownst to her).... Jill married John, Jack said, “I do” to Patty (after sleeping with Diane), and Nikki wed Kevin Bancroft.... Lance discovered that Brooks was his bio son.