Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope (RH) was a soap opera which aired for fourteen years on ABC, from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989. It was created, owned, and originally written by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, who had previously written Where the Heart Is and Love of Life. The show aired a total of 3515 30-minute episodes.

"A Clone of General Hospital"

Several things happened during the late seventies and early eighties to hasten the demise of the series. In 1979, Labine and Mayer were forced to sell the show to ABC due to skyrocketing production costs. ABC soon pushed for more action-adventure storylines, like the ones on their hit soap General Hospital. One of these included a gorilla who kidnapped Delia Reid Ryan Coleridge. Another included a search for a lost Egyptian queen. These were not the type of plots the show had previously been known for.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the beginning of 1982, ABC fired Labine and Mayer and replaced them with Mary Munisteri. During Munisteri's tenure as headwriter, the focus began to move to the newly-arrived wealthy Kirkland clan, which was headed by Hollis Kirkland III (Peter Haskell). It soon turned out that he was the father of Rae Woodard's daughter, Kimberly Harris (Kelli Maroney). As more and more Kirklands began to show up (including Christine Jones as Hollis' wife Catsy and Mary Page Keller and Ariane Munker as his daughter Amanda), less attention was paid to the Ryans and Coleridges. Various cast members at this time dubbed the show Kirkland's Hope.

Related Topics:
Mary Munisteri - Peter Haskell - Kelli Maroney - Christine Jones - Mary Page Keller - Ariane Munker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Due to falling ratings, Labine and Mayer were asked back at the beginning of 1983. Ratings rose steadily with their return; however, it was not enough. By the end of 1983, they were replaced with General Hospital scribe Pat Falken Smith. Smith, along with executive producer Joseph Hardy, once again shifted the focus from the Ryans. Numerous fan favorites, including Ilene Kristen, Louise Shaffer, Karen Morris-Gowdy were either fired or left of their own accord during Smith's and Hardy's reign. The focus of the series was now centered on Greenberg's Deli, with Cali Timmins' Maggie Shelby and Scott Holmes' Dave Greenberg becoming two prominent characters.

Related Topics:
General Hospital - Pat Falken Smith - Joseph Hardy - Ilene Kristen - Louise Shaffer - Karen Morris-Gowdy - Cali Timmins - Scott Holmes

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1985, Smith was replaced with Millee Taggert and Tom King. The show began to go back to its roots during this time. However, the show, which had been airing at 12:30PM since 1977, had just been moved to the noon time slot. Ratings sank to previously unheard of levels.

Related Topics:
Millee Taggert - Tom King

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~