Just what happened to "The Secret Storm"?

[bpatrick]

I've brought up this subject before, and someone as
I recall, mentioned reading about it in "Variety," but
I found a 1974 issue of TV Guide that had some information
about the fate of the venerable soap:

CBS had announced a cancellation date of February 8, 1974,
for the 20-year-old daytime institution. The show's owner,
American Home Products, had arranged for 150 stations to
carry new syndicated episodes beginning February 11. Then,
in late January, AHP announced that "for reasons we don't
want to make public" the syndication deal was off, but that
two parties had approached AHP about taking over the show,
but it would have been off for about a month. CBS went ahead
and wrapped up the storylines anyway.

I've always believed that CBS put some heat on somebody not
to go through with the deal. My guess is that in most markets
it would have been business as usual, 4 PM (ET) on the CBS
affiliate, crippling "Tattletales" at birth.

Somebody remind me of the "Variety" article, if you will. It's
always been a mystery how this show got away (I guess because
I was an off-and-on viewer).

 

[easttxtv]

I've heard of the syndie possibility story, but just in passing thru the Web. I've not seen the Variety article. Not sure how good of an idea this would be, but Jada Rowland (ex-Amy Ames; also ex-Carolee, The Doctors) has her own website, jadarowland.com, with paintings she has done and shown in galleries. Rowland apparently gave up acting after The Doctors was cancelled. I didn't recognize her in her current website pix compared to her days as either 'Amy' or 'Carolee'. Anyway, she could possibly have a bit of insight as to what happened behind-the-scenes, including the syndie stuff. I'm not sure who else you could ask that might know.

 

[bpatrick]

I've e-mailed Jada Rowland; don't know if
I'll hear back ("ATWT"'s former announcer,
Dan Region, floored me when he answered
my e-mail, and I've considered him a super
nice guy ever since). But re her looks, don't
forget she's 65 now; she was 11 when she
started playing Amy back in 1954. BTW, Amy
and "Search For Tomorrow"'s Patti Barron are
the only two soap kids who were allowed to
grow up in real time. Patti was played by a
succession of actresses, but Amy/Jada was 11
when "Secret Storm" started, and 31 when it
ended; Jada had played the role all but two of
the twenty years the show was on.

My mom remembered her better as Carolee on
"The Doctors," her favorite soap.

 

[Andy Coleman]

I have never seen Secret Storm. being I wasn't born at the time. I never understood why Soapnet never has had a spinoff network that would let us sometime first watchers of the classic soaps see. guess that will never happend now because Soapnet cancelled Another World for one Tree Hill a show that is still being shown on tv.

 

[azumanga]

I never understood why Soapnet never has had a spinoff network that would let us sometime first watchers of the classic soaps see.

Also, do any copies of this soap still exist? I imagine many of them, especially for obscure titles, no longer exist. Some even earlier soaps were seen only live, and were never recorded (except, maybe, as a kinnie).

 

[easttxtv]

I never understood why Soapnet never has had a spinoff network that would let us sometime first watchers of the classic soaps see.

There was talk a while back about a 2nd SoapNet channel but plans must have changed since then, as there's nothing being said now, plus things are different with the current SN channel since Brian Frons was given the reins of more than just ABC Daytime. It took Disney quite a while to get carriage of SN to the present point, could be that they didn't want to go through that much effort twice. Would be nice though.

Also, do any copies of this soap still exist? I imagine many of them, especially for obscure titles, no longer exist. Some even earlier soaps were seen only live, and were never recorded (except, maybe, as a kinnie).

Other than private collections and what's on the Web, I'm not sure there's many eps of anything from before tape/archiving began in the late 1970s. There weren't too many around like Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) or Claire Labine/Paul Avila Mayer (Ryan's Hope) who made sure that despite what networks or sponsors were doing, that shows would get saved in their entirety (or most of it anyway).

Too many examples have come out regarding networks/production companies that taped over or threw out old eps of shows (soaps, game shows, etc.); there aren't too many happy exceptions...one of which was when some old Hollywood Squares eps were found in an NBC archive a few years ago, and instead of them being thrown out, GSN ended up with them to show on their channel.

 

[bpatrick]

Given that, on retrospectives, "Guiding Light"
never shows anything prior to 1980, it's not
likely that "Secret Storm" has any surviving
episodes. It is true that "Dark Shadows" and
"Ryan's Hope" exist more or less intact, and I
think the ABC years of "Edge Of Night" (when
the show was taped--it was done live on CBS)
are around, since USA played them after ABC
dropped the show. But not many people are
like Dan Curtis, Labine and Mayer, or even Mark
Goodson in the game-show world, who possibly
realized that there would still be interest in their
work decades after the fact.

It's really a pity. I'd love to see the episode of
"Secret Storm" where Joan Crawford played her
own daughter.

 

[radiorob2.0]

There was one fan I know of who lived at 704 Houser Street in Queens who was upset when The Secret Storm left the air. ;D

 

[bpatrick]

If I remember the Variety article, it said that AHP
couldn't clear New York and Los Angeles. Well,
while I understand wanting the two biggest markets,
Procter and Gamble could put "Guiding Light" into
syndication, bypass New York and LA, and do quite
well with it in the South, Southwest, and Midwest,
which (since it was on CBS) was surely where "Secret
Storm" drew its best ratings.

I think "Secret Storm" could have done well on ABC,
especially given a young (early-30s) heroine. I'm not
saying it would still be on the air; it would have eventually
suffered the same fate as "Edge Of Night": too many affiliates
taking 4 ET/3 CT for themselves. But it might have gotten
a little more time. Of course it also begs the question: would
ABC have picked up "Edge" if it had had "Secret Storm" at 4?

I'm hoping to hear from Jada Rowland, but I'm not holding
my breath.

 

[easttxtv]

Given that, on retrospectives, "Guiding Light"
never shows anything prior to 1980, it's not
likely that "Secret Storm" has any surviving
episodes. It is true that "Dark Shadows" and
"Ryan's Hope" exist more or less intact, and I
think the ABC years of "Edge Of Night" (when
the show was taped--it was done live on CBS)
are around, since USA played them after ABC
dropped the show.

It's really a pity. I'd love to see the episode of
"Secret Storm" where Joan Crawford played her
own daughter.

The AOL Video reruns of Another World started with August 1980 eps and those of Edge began with 1979 sometime. I wonder if P&G thought there were too many gaps between saved eps to start any earlier with either show, plus P&G may have been concerned about the popularity of the 90-minute AW eps that came between March 1979 and August 1980. The Search for Tomorrow reruns started up on AOL with 1984 eps, which of course, would not include the supposedly-lost 1983 ep that had to be done live.

The Joan Crawford ep would be interesting, if not cringe-worthy 8)

 

[briancraig]

I seem to remember reading that a complete run of Days of Our Lives since the first 1965 episode exists. Prior to 1979, I think just about every other soap except for Dark Shadows is basically lost. Young & Restless might have a complete archive, I vaguely recall reading this.

The Secret Storm was in last place when it was cancelled, but had a 5.8 rating and an 18 share. Today, I don't think the #1 soap even cracks a 4.0.

 

[bpatrick]

The number-one soap, "The Young And The Restless,"
averages about a 3.2. The last-place soap, "Guiding Light,"
had a 1.3 last time I looked. Think about this: the radio
version of "GL" had a 3.6 when it was canceled in 1956.

 

[Newname]

I seem to remember reading that a complete run of Days of Our Lives since the first 1965 episode exists. Prior to 1979, I think just about every other soap except for Dark Shadows is basically lost. Young & Restless might have a complete archive, I vaguely recall reading this.

The Secret Storm was in last place when it was cancelled, but had a 5.8 rating and an 18 share. Today, I don't think the #1 soap even cracks a 4.0.

What about more recent, but eventually-cancelled sopas from the '80s and later: 'Capitol' or 'Loving'?

BTW, 'Dark Shadows' is apparently missing one episode...but they managed to 'reconstruct' it for re-airing in syndication, and on Sci-Fi Channel, thanks to some fan contributing his tape recording of the audio of the original broadcast, synced up with numerous still photos from the episode(incidentally, this same 'reconstruction' technique has been done for some missing 1960s episodes of the BBC's 'Doctor Who.')

 

[Andy Coleman]

Port Charles that aired on ABC has all the stories that was told after the 3 month story arc. but for some reason we never got to see all the shows up until that time. Once Soapnet was rumored to show Capital but of course it didn't.

 

[mleach]

I seem to remember reading that a complete run of Days of Our Lives since the first 1965 episode exists. Prior to 1979, I think just about every other soap except for Dark Shadows is basically lost. Young & Restless might have a complete archive, I vaguely recall reading this.

The Secret Storm was in last place when it was cancelled, but had a 5.8 rating and an 18 share. Today, I don't think the #1 soap even cracks a 4.0.

What about more recent, but eventually-cancelled sopas from the '80s and later: 'Capitol' or 'Loving'?

I am sure tapes of both Captol and Loving still exist. Really the only show from the 80s that I doubt exist today ( other than in ones private collection ) is "Thicke of the Night" since that is a request from Alan Thicke himself that this show be erased and/or destroyed. Other that that I am pretty sure anything that aired in the 80s is still with us today...though it maybe be locked up in a vault someplace.

 

[bpatrick]

Believe it or not I heard back from Jada Rowland,
although I don't know that she added much insight.
According to her, the cancellation decision was made
months before the show actually left the air, but that
the ratings had improved (I assume she means after
"Secret Storm" got "Match Game" as a lead-in) to its
old levels. Apparently, she says, the affiliates and
sponsors felt it was too long a wait before the show
entered syndication, and the actors didn't really think
the show would continue after CBS let it go.

At wikipedia (and I can't vouch for the accuracy of this),
it says that Lin Bolen opted not to pick it up for NBC, and
that ABC preferred to buy Agnes Nixon's soaps, "All My
Children" and "One Life To Live." There was also a problem
of clearing timeslots. ABC affiliates would likely have carried
"Secret Storm" before 11:30 AM (as if they couldn't have
pre-empted "Love, American Style" at 4, as many did), and
soaps have a poor track record in the morning; CBS and NBC
affiliates might have opted for 1 PM (ET). I don't know why
that wouldn't have worked; WAGA/5 Atlanta was already carrying
"Secret Storm" at 1 and doing just fine.

It's still my unprovable contention that CBS discouraged its
affiliates from carrying the show at 4; as I said on another posting,
it would have crippled "Tattletales" at birth.

Anyway, I guess Jada's insights are the best we can hope for.
Personal note: while she doesn't show the genuine friendliness
of "ATWT"'s Dan Region, she's still a class act; most soap people
(most celebrities, in fact) would have ignored my email.

 

[bpatrick]

I should add a couple of things to the above
posting. Lin Bolen had a pet project, "How To
Survive A Marriage," which debuted on NBC in
January 1974 and whose content was, for the
time, quite controversial (it didn't make it at
3:30 against "One Life To Live" and "Match Game,"
nor at 1:30 against "Let's Make A Deal" and "As
The World Turns"). That was, supposedly, her
reason for not picking up "Secret Storm" for NBC.

As for Jada Rowland, as someone else pointed out,
she's had a successful career as an artist and has
staged exhibitions in several countries. She's also
written several children's books (she was off "Secret
Storm" from 1971 to 1973 in order to write her first one).
But her acting days appear to be long over.

Again, I'm grateful for her taking the time to answer
my e-mail, but her reply came off as somewhat impersonal,
as if I was wasting her time with my question. But then
again, she didn't have to answer at all. (When I e-mailed
Dan Region about using his article on Gettysburg in my classes,
he showed an interest in what I teach and even asked me to
tell him what the class thought of the article. That made a
bigger hit with me than Jada's "just the facts" attitude.)

Which brings me to a potential thread: have any of you met
a celebrity, or e-mailed one? I'm curious as to how you were
treated; I heard of someone who met Steve Allen, and he
conveyed a "don't waste my time" attitude. I've also heard
some negative things about Merv Griffin and Bill Cullen.

 

[easttxtv]

Believe it or not I heard back from Jada Rowland,
although I don't know that she added much insight.

Anyway, I guess Jada's insights are the best we can hope for.
Personal note: while she doesn't show the genuine friendliness
of "ATWT"'s Dan Region, she's still a class act; most soap people
(most celebrities, in fact) would have ignored my email.

I figured she *might* answer, as she has conducted at least 1 audio interview (for the about-to-disappear www.wost.org website); I wondered, though, if she'd be nice or otherwise...could be that the last bit of time she was on The Doctors left her with a bad taste for acting (NBC had taken control of the show from Colgate-Palmolive by then and had left many marks production-wise ... if anyone has seen the finale episode, there wasn't much production value (the writing and acting kinda seemed cobbled-together), to the point that there wasn't even a real opening or closing sequence on it, just the show logo superimposed over the set scenery). Or maybe she was burned out, almost like Victoria Wyndham (ex-Rachel, Another World). Wyndham didn't do any TV parts for 7 years after AW's cancellation, but she'd been acting constantly for the better part of the previous 30 years, and felt like she needed a break.

 

[easttxtv]

I should add a couple of things to the above
posting. Lin Bolen had a pet project, "How To
Survive A Marriage," which debuted on NBC in
January 1974 and whose content was, for the
time, quite controversial (it didn't make it at
3:30 against "One Life To Live" and "Match Game,"
nor at 1:30 against "Let's Make A Deal" and "As
The World Turns").

I've heard that Bolen wasn't exactly the best daytime VP that the Peacock's ever had. I saw an online archived article with Bolen, but I forgot what publication and when it originally was published.

Which brings me to a potential thread: have any of you met
a celebrity, or e-mailed one? I'm curious as to how you were
treated; I heard of someone who met Steve Allen, and he
conveyed a "don't waste my time" attitude. I've also heard
some negative things about Merv Griffin and Bill Cullen.

I've gotten that feeling about Allen in his interviews and game play, but wasn't sure about Griffin or Cullen.

 

[mleach]

Which brings me to a potential thread: have any of you met
a celebrity, or e-mailed one? I'm curious as to how you were
treated; I heard of someone who met Steve Allen, and he
conveyed a "don't waste my time" attitude. I've also heard
some negative things about Merv Griffin and Bill Cullen.

I've gotten that feeling about Allen in his interviews and game play, but wasn't sure about Griffin or Cullen.

I don't know about what Bill Cullen was like off-camera either but Merv...over the years I heard if one wanted to talk about his casinos, how to play the games and that stuff..he is all ears. Anything else ( like television )..he would end the conversation.

A CLASSIC example of this is the late Paul Newman. I knew quite a few who had met him over the years and it was always the same story. Talk about race cars and sports, he would talk to you all day. Perhaps even take you out for a beer. BUT bring up anything Hollywood related..its "good bye".

Not sure if Paul Newman would had done the same thing had someone brought up his food products that are still available at your local market.