Time Capsule 1988

ALL MY CHILDREN recast the role of Dixie with Cady McClain and welcomed back Michael E. Knight (Tad), while Darnell Williams (Jesse) left.... Brooke and Adam tied the knot; so did Natalie and Jeremy, and Stuart and AIDS-afflicted Cindy. Erica and Travis welcomed a daughter, Bianca, before they swapped vows.... Brooke and Tom’s young daughter, Laura, was struck and killed by a drunk driver.... Angie mourned when Jesse was shot and killed in the line of duty.... AMC’s writing team nabbed the Daytime Emmy; so did David Canary (Adam/Stuart) as Lead Actor and Ellen Wheeler (Cindy) as Supporting Actress. Winsor Washam left the show as co-head writer, leaving Lorraine Broderick to work as a solo act. Recasts were all the rage on ANOTHER WORLD, which introduced Matt Crane (Matt), Carmen Duncan (Iris) and Anna Holbrook (Sharlene); Tom Eplin (Jake) and Gretchen Oehler (Vivian) returned.... Felicia wed Mitch; Donna remarried Michael; Sam and Amanda said, “I do” and welcomed baby Alli.... Reginald Love died after falling off a roof; he left his fortune to Vicky, who was pregnant either by Jamie (who popped the question) or Marley’s hubby, Jake.... Dawn Rollo succumbed to AIDS.... Matt discovered that Mitch, not Mac, was his bio dad.... Cass and Felicia mourned the death of their pal Wally.... Head Writer Margaret DePriest exited; Sheri Anderson was tapped to replace her, but left; former head writer Harding Lemay returned on a temporary basis before Donna Swajeski was named to the top slot.

Julianne Moore (Frannie/Sabrina), Brian Bloom (Dusty), Jon Hensley (Holden), and Finn Carter (Sierra) checked out of AS THE WORLD TURNS, while Alice Haining (Angel), Ming-Na (Lien) and Patrick Tovatt (Cal) debuted.... The show introduced daytime’s first out gay male, fashion designer Hank.... Hal and Barbara wed; Holden and Emily’s short-lived marriage ended when she miscarried; widow Nancy married Dan.... Margo passed off her baby boy, Adam, who was sired by Hal, as Tom’s. Tom was shocked by the arrival of half-Vietnamese Lien, the daughter he never knew he had.... Meg hooked up with Josh.... Andy struggled with alcoholism.... Laurence Caso was in as EP, replacing Robert Calhoun.... Julianne Moore won the Outstanding Ingenue Emmy.  

On BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL, Kristen eloped with Clarke, who fathered Margo’s new baby, Mark.... Caroline slept with brother-inlaw Ridge, and when Thorne found out, he shot Ridge while under the influence of pills and alcohol; Stephanie took the rap.... Eric asked Steph for a divorce so he could be with Beth.... Steph and Eric’s presumeddead daughter, microcephalic Angela, was revealed to be alive.... Brooke and Ridge got engaged.... Nude pics of Donna were published in Temptation magazine, courtesy of Bill Spencer, Sr.... Lee Phillip Bell was named as one of the show’s EPs.

Billy Warlock (Frankie) and Lisa Trusel (Melissa) exited DAYS OF OUR LIVES.... After Kayla divorced Jack (who raped her), she married Steve, overcoming her temporary status as deaf and mute.... Tom and Alice renewed their vows after discovering that their first ceremony 50 years prior was invalid.... Justin got Anjelica pregnant; she married Neil.... Eve’s face was slashed by the Riverfront Knifer (Harper, who had also attacked Kayla and killed Grace and Janice).... Jennifer and Frankie split.... Warlock won the Emmy for Outstanding Younger Leading Man.... The show cleaned up at the Soap Opera Digest Awards, with winners including Stephen Nichols (Steve), Michael T. Weiss (ex-Mike) and Arleen Sorkin (ex-Calliope).

Jack Wagner (Frisco) took a break from GENERAL HOSPITAL, which wrote out Brian Patrick Clarke (Grant); Kin Shriner came back as Scotty; Kurt McKinney debuted as Ned and Tonja Walker came aboard as Olivia Jerome.... Tom and Simone became daytime’s first interracial spouses, while at Sean and Tiffany’s wacky nups, the groom learned that the bride was born Elsie Mae Crumholtz.... Frisco was presumed dead on a WSB mission.... Grant murdered Filomena; eyewitness Robin was briefly catatonic.... Julian was presumed dead, but popped up at his own grave.... Monica bedded tennis pro Ward — who turned out to be sister-in-law Tracy’s son, Ned.... Duke drunkenly slept with Olivia, who caused Anna to miscarry.... Head Writers Ann Marcus and Norma Monty were axed.

GUIDING LIGHT tapped Daniel Pilon to succeed Chris Bernau as Alan; Maureen Garrett (Holly) returned; Krista Tesreau (Mindy) exited.... Alan wed a comatose Reva, who had the union annulled; Maeve and Fletcher wed (but she soon died in a plane crash); Mindy tied the knot with Will; and Rick put a ring on Meredith’s finger, unaware she was pregnant by Phillip; Josh’s wife, Sonni, turned out to actually be Solita, Sonni’s twin.... Holly returned to Springfield and reunited with daughter Christina, who now went by Blake.... Kim Zimmer (Reva) won the Lead Actress prize at the Digest Awards. Lisa Peluso replaced Roya Megnot as LOVING’s Ava; Richard Steinmetz (Jeff) and Robert Tyler (Trucker) debuted.... Trisha was widowed when Steve died keeping Stacey and JJ safe during a bank robbery.... Rick turned out to be Gwyneth’s son with Clay.... Ava realized that hubby “Clay” was actually an impostor, Alex, and agreed to keep quiet, but Alex’s first wife, Egypt, arrived to cause trouble.... Jim and Shana remarried.... Stacey left Jack over his affair with Lily.... Jeff slept with Gwyneth before falling for her daughter, Trisha.

Robert S. Woods returned to ONE LIFE TO LIVE as Bo; Jessica Tuck was introduced as Megan; Roma Downey made her American TV debut as Joanna; Jill Larson played loony Ursula.... Clint time-traveled to 1888, where he took up with Viki’s great-grandmother, Ginny; Viki time-traveled in time to stop the wedding and the duo returned to the present.... After a botched wedding to Max, Tina remarried Cord in a double ceremony with Asa and Renee; Cord and Tina also reunited with their missing son, C.J. ...Gabrielle wed Max’s brother, Steve, who subsequently died; Max dated soap star Megan.... Viki learned that she had given birth to a daughter when she was in high school and Victor had hired someone to erase her memory of the event. John Gabriel (Seneca) and Felicity LaFortune (Leigh) returned to RYAN’S HOPE, and Roscoe Born popped in as Joe; Nancy Addison Altman (Jillian) exited; Regis Philbin ended his stint as politician Malachy; Rosemary Prinz joined the show as a recast Sister Mary Joel.... Joseph Hardy was replaced as EP with Felicia Minei Behr.... Maggie cheated on Roger.... Leigh and Jack got engaged and he disovered that Sister Mary is his birth mother.... Helen Gallagher (Maeve) won the Lead Actress Emmy.... In October, ABC announced the cancellation of the series (which would air into 1989). “We have done our best to keep RYAN’S HOPE on the air,” Jo Ann Emmerich, ABC’s vice president of daytime programming, said at the time. “Despite the falling ratings, there has been no stinting on talent in front of or behind the camera.”

SANTA BARBARA won its first Emmy for Outstanding Drama. The show said good-bye to Robin Wright (Kelly), Justin Deas (Keith) and Nicolas Coster (Lionel), but introduced Joe Marinelli (Bunny) and Signy Coleman (Celeste) and rehired Louise Sorel (Augusta); Eva La Rue made her soap debut as Margot.... Cruz and Eden were married at long last and they time-traveled to 1962 on their honeymoon; he also found out that Chip was his son.... Eden was raped and she learned she was pregnant.... C.C. and Sophia divorced.... Amnesiac Mason thought he was a crooner named Sonny Sprockett, but eventually reunited with Julia.... Keith left town (and new wife Gina).... Deas won the Supporting Actor Emmy for his work as Keith; Coster won in that category at the Digest Awards.

Eileen Davidson quit YOUNG AND RESTLESS as Ashley; the role was recast with Brenda Epperson.... John wed Cricket’s mother, Jessica, who had AIDS; Katherine married Rex.... Leanna penned Ruthless, Victor’s unauthorized biography, but her marriage to the tycoon was invalid.... Brad was held hostage by his unhinged ex, Lisa.... Phillip III was born to Nina and Phillip.... Ashley’s new hubby, Steven, died.... Nikki learned that she was pregnant by Victor.... Paul fell for married Cassandra.... The show began its reign as No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings. The Writers’ Guild of America went on strike, which lasted from March 7 to August 7 and affected every soap.