beyond seriality...

Discussions about the impact and influence of daytime soaps on primetime, or now, streaming, shows always begin with seriality — even mine. Back in 1995, I convinced an editor reluctant to assign a piece on soaps by arguing that any show that began with the words "previously on" had incorporated the most fundamental element of the daytime soap opera.

Which is true. However, what is also true is a fact that too often gets lost in the shuffle: seriality is not the only element of daytime soaps to have found its way into primetime.

When I interviewed the late programming legend, Fred Silverman, in 2016, I asked him in what ways did the influence of daytime serials spill into primetime. He would go on to talk about the rise of the mini series and serials. But his immediate response:

I think there were influences going back to some of the episodic shows before the serials. If you look at a show like Bonanza or Gunsmoke, where you have a core of characters from year to year who are developed and grow a bit, that change and get older. If you look at the construction of Gunsmoke, you have Matt, Kitty, Festus and Doc, there were often scenes that were reminiscent of the kinds of scenes you could find in As the World Turns, that didn't necessarily move the story along, but were just great moments of character revelation and humor. So I do think that there were traces and aspects of the serial that spilled into primetime series before the advent of Peyton Place and the nighttime serials.

Words to keep in mind: "A core of characters from year to year who are developed and grow a bit, that change and get older...the kind of scenes that didn't necessarily move the story along but were just great moments of character revelations and humor." And, I would add, sometimes sadness...

A few years back, I was watching a weekend binge of Family (ABC, 1976-1980). While Family was not a serialized series (although there were a few story arcs over its run), in one episode there was just something about James Broderick's portrayal of attorney Doug Lawrence — his expression, mannerism, I don't know — that reminded me of Don MacLaughlin, who played As the World Turns patriarch, attorney Chris Hughes, from the show's premiere in 1956 until his death in 1986.

The Lawrence family lived in Pasadena, and included Doug's wife, stay-at-home mom, Kate, and their three children, Nancy, Willie, and Buddy; another son, Timmy, died in a boating accident five years earlier. Initially, I hadn't noticed how much the show's structure resembled that of ATWT, which was set in the fictional Illinois town, Oakdale. 'World Turns' core family was the Hugheses: in addition to Chris, there was his wife Nancy, who like Kate Lawrence, didn't suffer fools, nor did either hesitate to offer a pointed opinion or dispense advice, wanted or not. The Hugheses also had three children — Don, Penny, and Bob — and a daughter, Susan, who died in a swimming pool accident six months before the show began.

Now all of these similarities could be chalked up to nothing more than happenstance were it not for how many people in and around Family had connections to soaps opera in general and As the World Turns in particular. Pay attention: there are a lot of moving parts here.

The idea for Family was conceived by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, who had previous headed ABC Daytime programming. One of Goldberg's mentors was Douglas Cramer, who had worked with Irna Phillips at As the World Turns. When Cramer became Director of Program Planning at ABC in 1962, he had hoped to create a five-night-a-week primetime soap for ABC. When that didn't happen, Cramer, who would later partner with Spelling to create Dynasty, brought Phillips on as a story consultant for the groundbreaking primetime serial, Peyton Place. Also around ABC at the time was another Daytime programming alum, Brandon Stoddard, who told of firing Irna Phillips from A World Apart, and would go on to green light thirtysomething, another primetime show, which, while not explicitly serialized, incorporated elements of soaps.

President of ABC during Family's run? Fred Silverman, who began his career as head of CBS Daytime and worked closely with Irna Phillips and As the World Turns. Also on board: executive consultant Mark Rydell, who, from 1956-1962 played ATWT's Jeff Baker. And then one day recently things came full circle: I was looking through As the World Turns: The Complete Family Scrapbook (Special 40th Anniversary Edition) and whose picture do I come across on page 24? James Broderick, who portrayed Dr. Jim Norman in 1962.

So... The recent deaths of Fred Silverman and Leonard Goldberg mean Mark Rydell is the only one who can say for certain whether the similarities between Family and As the World Turns were anything other than a series of coincidences. I'd love to know one way or the other, but I'm not holding my breath. So I will continue to  speculate with impunity.

Fred Silverman's comments above reminded me of my 2008 lament for what was already a long-ago and much-missed time in soaps.

It was really nothing more than a series of conversations exploring the relationships among the characters, steeped in the show's history so even casual viewers had some idea of how the characters, on and off the screen, were connected. Real conversations: where characters actually listened to one another and not just talked at each other. An hour of soap opera so engrossing, that even if I had been watching a tape, there was nothing I would have wanted to ff through.