"There are 11 soap operas on the air now," one TV game show host observed in 1964, adding, "not counting ABC's Peyton Place in the evening."
One of those 11 daytime soap operas was The Young Marrieds.
Star Maggie Hayes remarked, "In some strange way actors as well seem to look down on the daytime serials. I find it closer than anything else on television to a Broadway play. For instance you have a chance to evaluate relationships which cannot be done in a one-shot TV drama."
At the time, each weekday from 2:00 o'clock to 3:30 in the afternoon, viewers had a choice of 9 soap operas to watch. The Young Marrieds was up against The Edge Of Night. It lasted 17 months.
It was revealed Joan Crawford at one time called The Edge Of Night producer Erwin Nicholson. He recounted, "She told me she was glad we had made a change from 2:30pm to 4:00pm. Now she didn’t have to schedule her Pepsi board meeting around the show."
On reflection, one university professor stated, "It would be a mistake to dismiss the soaps as a fantasy world appealing to slightly addled housewives. If one watches a few episodes, learns some of the history of the characters, one discovers that people in the soaps can become more real than people living next door."
He reasoned, "Because we encounter them 5 days a week, overhear them in their own homes and offices, revealing the most intimate things about themselves..."
Actress Susan Seaforth Hayes first appeared on Days Of Our Lives in 1968. Of acting in a soap opera, she recounted in 1990, "When I first went into Days, it was the first long job that I ever had. I had worked briefly on Young Marrieds and on General Hospital but Young Marrieds was a show going downhill and General Hospital was a limited summer part.
"I couldn’t get over the fact that my part on Days went on and on. I started to take it very seriously. Too seriously. It’s a classic error that actors make. You either handle it and grow out of it or get destroyed by it.
"What happens is you take over the role....You start telling the director how to do his job....You start telling the writer how to write......You start telling the producer who should be cast....When, in fact, you weren’t hired for any of those positions. You were hired to do the acting and then go home."
Statistics released in 1979 shown on the average, about 55 million viewers from rural to urban were watching daytime TV. Of those, 57% were women; 20% were men; 15% were children of the ages 2 to 11 and 8% were teenagers. Of the 71% women watching soap operas, 41% were of the ages 18 to 49.
The popularity of daytime soap operas on TV had also translated into print with Soap Opera Digest magazine garnered some 2.8 million readers at the time.
One of those 11 daytime soap operas was The Young Marrieds.
Star Maggie Hayes remarked, "In some strange way actors as well seem to look down on the daytime serials. I find it closer than anything else on television to a Broadway play. For instance you have a chance to evaluate relationships which cannot be done in a one-shot TV drama."
At the time, each weekday from 2:00 o'clock to 3:30 in the afternoon, viewers had a choice of 9 soap operas to watch. The Young Marrieds was up against The Edge Of Night. It lasted 17 months.
It was revealed Joan Crawford at one time called The Edge Of Night producer Erwin Nicholson. He recounted, "She told me she was glad we had made a change from 2:30pm to 4:00pm. Now she didn’t have to schedule her Pepsi board meeting around the show."
On reflection, one university professor stated, "It would be a mistake to dismiss the soaps as a fantasy world appealing to slightly addled housewives. If one watches a few episodes, learns some of the history of the characters, one discovers that people in the soaps can become more real than people living next door."
He reasoned, "Because we encounter them 5 days a week, overhear them in their own homes and offices, revealing the most intimate things about themselves..."
Actress Susan Seaforth Hayes first appeared on Days Of Our Lives in 1968. Of acting in a soap opera, she recounted in 1990, "When I first went into Days, it was the first long job that I ever had. I had worked briefly on Young Marrieds and on General Hospital but Young Marrieds was a show going downhill and General Hospital was a limited summer part.
"I couldn’t get over the fact that my part on Days went on and on. I started to take it very seriously. Too seriously. It’s a classic error that actors make. You either handle it and grow out of it or get destroyed by it.
"What happens is you take over the role....You start telling the director how to do his job....You start telling the writer how to write......You start telling the producer who should be cast....When, in fact, you weren’t hired for any of those positions. You were hired to do the acting and then go home."
Statistics released in 1979 shown on the average, about 55 million viewers from rural to urban were watching daytime TV. Of those, 57% were women; 20% were men; 15% were children of the ages 2 to 11 and 8% were teenagers. Of the 71% women watching soap operas, 41% were of the ages 18 to 49.
The popularity of daytime soap operas on TV had also translated into print with Soap Opera Digest magazine garnered some 2.8 million readers at the time.
