Last network soap to move from live to tape?

[Stanislav]

The answer is probably buried in an old thread somewhere, but...what was the last network soap opera to move from live broadcasts to tape?

 

[easttxtv]

The Edge of Night, late 1975, upon moving from CBS to ABC. As the World Turns, not long before that; most all the others had gone the tape route by the late 1960s.

The last times any soap did live was Search for Tomorrow in 1983 (they said they lost their master and backup tape for an ep, while some dismissed it as a stunt for ratings), and One Life to Live (2001? 2002?) for a special week of live shows (their anniversary maybe?) which even included a remote scene in NYC's Central Park. IIRR, there was maybe 1 camera jiggle and 1 actor (the great Linda Dano) who flubbed a line but she fixed/ad-libbed it.

 

[Stanislav]

The Edge of Night, late 1975, upon moving from CBS to ABC. As the World Turns, not long before that; most all the others had gone the tape route by the late 1960s.

I'm curious as to why those shows waited so long to switch. Was it a feeling on the part of producers and/or the actors that doing it live produced a vitality lacking in multiple takes? Those NYC-based soaps may have had a lot of actors passing through who had either done some theater or aspired to do so, so perhaps the actors liked it that way as a good training ground.

 

[easttxtv]

I'm not exactly sure about As the World Turns (the following site and ATWT's Wikipedia site differ about that show's live timeframe), but according to
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/casino/403/livetape.html

at the Edge of Night home page, it was executive producer Edwin Nicholson's idea to keep doing live eps, similar to your theory, that there was an energy and spontaneity that didn't come with taping. The link above also lists some exceptions which included actor's vacations and child labor issues.

 

[Stanislav]

My grandmother was a heavy soap addict back in the day, and in occasionally watching with her I would sometimes catch an obvious flub in the live broadcast. One I recall (not the specifics - don't ask me who or which show) that amused her no end was shortly after an actress had moved from one soap to another, and she accidentally referred to a character using the similar-sounding name of a character from her previous gig! (Quickly correcting herself, but causing my grandmother to burst out laughing...)

 

[mleach]

My grandmother was a heavy soap addict back in the day, and in occasionally watching with her I would sometimes catch an obvious flub in the live broadcast. One I recall (not the specifics - don't ask me who or which show) that amused her no end was shortly after an actress had moved from one soap to another, and she accidentally referred to a character using the similar-sounding name of a character from her previous gig! (Quickly correcting herself, but causing my grandmother to burst out laughing...)

I would LOVE to have seen Joan Crawford filling in for her daughter Christina on "The Secret Storm". Christina Crawford over the years have doing some flip-flopping as to how well her mother did on the show. One interview I can remember ( Howard Stern ? ) she said that her mother was a "drunken bitch" and "f**ked up badly" during The Secret Storm while yet during another interview for People Magazine, she said her mother did a "wonderful job" and how it was "so nice she had took the time to help me out".

Since I have heard that epiosde has since been lost, guess we will never know for sure how Joan Crawford did on "The Secret Storm". Sigh !!!!

 

[wbhist]

I would LOVE to have seen Joan Crawford filling in for her daughter Christina on "The Secret Storm". Christina Crawford over the years have doing some flip-flopping as to how well her mother did on the show. One interview I can remember ( Howard Stern ? ) she said that her mother was a "drunken bitch" and "f**ked up badly" during The Secret Storm while yet during another interview for People Magazine, she said her mother did a "wonderful job" and how it was "so nice she had took the time to help me out".

Since I have heard that epiosde has since been lost, guess we will never know for sure how Joan Crawford did on "The Secret Storm". Sigh !!!!

Something tells me it was something in-between . . . however, there was some consensus that the change in actors in the "Joan Borman Kane" character was so jarring on this occasion that only a year later, the character was written off the show.

 

[easttxtv]

Those NYC-based soaps may have had a lot of actors passing through who had either done some theater or aspired to do so, so perhaps the actors liked it that way as a good training ground.

Many of the NYC soap actors have had Broadway/off-Broadway/etc. stage experience during or before their TV roles. Douglass Watson (Mac, Another World) was spotted doing a staged performance of King Lear in NY in the early 1970s and was cast almost immediately for the AW part, which he played until his untimely death. Anne Meacham (Louise, AW) had done several Tennessee Williams plays prior to doing AW. Larry Bryggman (John Dixon, As the World Turns) has been very active in NY stage work, being nominated twice for the Tony for featured actor in a play (Picnic, 1994; Proof, 2001). Ruth Warrick (Phoebe, All My Children) had done Broadway twice before starting on AMC and once afterward, as well as having a busy past in films. I could go on, but obviously not all the NYC soap actors phoned it in...there has been real experience behind many of their performances.