Loving (TV series)

Loving
Genre Soap opera
Created by Agnes Nixon
Douglas Marland
Starring Series cast
Opening theme "Theme from Loving" by Michael Karp (1983-1989); "The Loving Theme (#1)", sung by Johnny Mathis (1989-1991); "The Loving Theme (#2)", by David Randall Lowe and David M. Shapiro (1991-1992); "The Loving Theme (#3)", aka "L-O-V-I-N-G", by Jeffrey Osborne
(1992-1995)
Composer(s) Michael Karp (multiple episodes)
Mike Renzi (multiple episodes, and series finale)
Score Productions (multiple episodes)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 3,169[1]
Production
Executive producer(s) See Crew
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network ABC
Original release June 26, 1983 (1983-06-26) – November 10, 1995 (1995-11-10)
Chronology
Followed by The City
Related shows All My Children
One Life to Live
General Hospital

Loving is an American television soap opera that ran on ABC from June 26, 1983, to November 10, 1995, a total of 3,169 episodes.[2] The serial, set in the fictional town of Corinth, Pennsylvania, was co-created by Agnes Nixon and former actor Douglas Marland.

The show was broadcast in France under the title Amoureusement Votre (Lovingly Yours), in Croatia as Ljubav, in Germany as Loving - Wege der Liebe, and in Italy as Quando si ama (When someone loves). Loving premiered on June 26, 1983 as a two-hour primetime movie and on the next day became a half-hour weekday soap opera.

On July 4, 1995, ABC officially canceled Loving due to low ratings, and its final episode aired on November 10, 1995. On November 13, 1995, the following Monday, ABC replaced Loving with its spin-off The City, which ran until March 27, 1997.

History

With the established and successful ABC daytime soaps veering into a new trend of youth orientation and action/adventure storylines, a format heavy influenced by Gloria Monty on General Hospital, creators Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland set out to develop a new series that would be introduced as a traditional, classic soap opera for the 1980s. Romance would be the show's key centerpiece; its original working title was Love Without End. By early 1983, the new creation was fully developed, as Loving, with a cast set for both a primetime premiere and a weekday run.

Loving premiered on June 26, 1983 as a two-hour primetime movie. It starred much of the original cast and featured film actors Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page. Set in the fictional town of Corinth, Pennsylvania, the early years of the show revolved around the blue-collar Donovans and the blue-blood Aldens. Major social issues such as incest, alcoholism, and post-traumatic stress syndrome of Vietnam vets were covered. But Marland and Nixon left the series after a few years and in spite of ABC's bumping down Ryan's Hope to give Loving a choice timeslot, and cast additions of such popular All My Children stars as Debbi Morgan and Jean LeClerc, the ratings remained low throughout the show's run. Loving suffered from a constant revolving door of writers and producers, leading to questionable story moments such as a heroine's addiction to cough syrup and one character's selling his soul to the Devil. Circumstances became so desperate in the early 1990s that, to keep the show afloat, ABC assigned its own programming suits, network executive Haidee Granger and later, Vice President of Daytime Programming JoAnn Emmerich, to serve as Executive Producers. Nonetheless, on June 26, 1993, Loving celebrated its 10th Anniversary on ABC.

Long-running characters included Ava Rescott (played by Patty Lotz, 1983–1984; Roya Megnot, 1984–1988, 1990 as a temporary replacement; Lisa Peluso, 1988–1995), a schemer whose adventures ranged from stuffing a pillow in her dress to simulate pregnancy to being kidnapped at Universal Studios to being menaced by her lover's identical twin, Gilbert. Another longtime favorite was Stacey Donovan Forbes (portrayed by Lauren-Marie Taylor, the only continuously running original cast member), who was killed off via a poisoned powder puff in summer 1995, and Gwyneth Alden, the long-suffering matriarch who never stopped loving her roguish ex, Clay, or her mentally disturbed children, Trisha and Curtis.

In early 1995, ABC Daytime planned to cancel the show and asked new head writers James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten to find a way to salvage a few components of the series. The writers embarked upon the show's last big storyline, and what many considered one of the show's best storylines, the Corinth serial killer. Stacey, Clay, Curtis, Cabot, Isabelle, and Jeremy lost their lives, culminating in the revelation that an insane Gwyn had murdered most of her friends and family in a bid to "make their pain go away". Gwyn then injected herself with poison before the police could take her into custody. Loving characters Ally, Alex, Angie, Buck, Frankie, Jacob, Steffi, Jocelyn, and Tess moved to New York City's SoHo District and began a new series, The City, which would run until March 1997.

In August 2013, the serial killer storyline was revisited on General Hospital as Luke Spencer and Holly Sutton found their way into the abandoned Alden mansion, in pursuit of an adversary who was hiding out in Corinth. Framed photographs of Gwyneth, Trisha and Cabot Alden could be seen, as Luke and Holly recounted the story of "The Loving Murders". Holly ruminated upon Gwyn's rationale for being the killer as being her need to "spare the people she loved from their pain." Following this, Luke found his ex-wife Laura tied up in the Alden family basement. (Genie Francis, who played Laura, had briefly brought her character of Ceara Connor over to "Loving" from "All My Children"; The character of Tracy Quartermaine had been a regular character on "The City" prior to that show's cancellation.)

Ratings history

Although Loving had low ratings throughout its history, its first few years were relatively encouraging. In its debut year (1983), it finished in 11th place and 3.9, above the then ailing soaps The Edge of Night and Search for Tomorrow. 1984 saw the show's ratings climb to a fairly comfortable 10th place and 4.1, holding that position for the 1985-1986 television season with 4.2. A change in timeslot, with Loving occupying the slot previously held by Ryan's Hope, was a major factor in ratings improvement (albeit having the opposite effect on Ryan's Hope).

The slow but steady ratings growth was not sustained in the long run. Loving fell back to 11th place, hitting last place for the first time, in early 1989 (between the January series finale of Ryan's Hope and the March premiere of NBC's Generations). 1990 witnessed the show ranking in 11th place as well. After Santa Barbara went off the air in January 1993, Loving, according to television historian Alex McNeil, "was consistently the lowest rated of the ten network daytime soaps."[3]

When it originally premiered, the show aired at 11:30 AM ET/10:30 AM CT/MT/PT. On October 8, 1984, the show was moved to the later 12:30 PM/11:30 AM timeslot, bumping Ryan's Hope up to Noon/11:00. (This caused Ryan's Hope's ratings to plummet because many East Coast ABC stations pre-empted network programming at Noon for local news. Some affiliates, such as WSB-TV in Atlanta, chose to keep Ryan's Hope at 12:30.) Despite airing in the 12:30 timeslot, Loving never achieved the ratings Ryan's Hope had during its glory years. In the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones, Loving was often pre-empted at 11:30 for local newscasts, airing on a one day delay earlier in the morning or not at all.

In 1992, after ABC stopped airing programming in the Noon/11:00 period, Loving was made available to affiliates at Noon/11 or 12:30/11:30. Some ABC stations outside of the Eastern Time Zone moved Loving to 11:00 AM to air local newscasts at 11:30. Despite the time slot changes on some affiliates, the national ratings for the show never improved. In fact, the show's national ratings were never strong enough to climb above tenth place. However, Loving did beat the genre's top-rated program, CBS' The Young and the Restless, in markets such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia, which were home to four of ABC's owned-and-operated stations, despite only competing with the first half hour of The Young and the Restless.

The show had a short two year run in the early years of UK satellite and cable channel Sky One, starting in February 1989. Loving aired in an afternoon slot, Monday to Friday at 14:45, later moved to 14:30, before being cancelled and replaced by Santa Barbara in February 1991.

Cast and crew

Cast

Executive Producers

Duration Name
June 27, 1983 to June 17, 1988 Joseph Stuart
June 20, 1988 to November 30, 1989 Joseph Hardy
December 3, 1989 to April 1990 Mary-Ellis Bunim
April 1990 to July 12, 1991 Jacqueline Babbin
July 15, 1991 to May 25, 1992 Fran Sears
May 26, 1992 to October 1993 Haidee Granger
November 11, 1993 to December 1994 JoAnn Emmerich
December 1994 to November 10, 1995 Jean Dadario Burke

Producers

Duration Name
1990 to 1992 Barbara Duggan
1992 to December 1994 Jean Dadario Burke
December 1994 to November 10, 1995 Jane Elliot & Laura Rakowitz

Associate Producers

Duration Name
June 27, 1983 to September 1988 Barbara Duggan
September 1988 to January 1990 Achille Raspantini
January 1990 to 1992 Richard R. Schilling
1992 to 1994 Heidi Adam
1994 Heidi Adam & Dana Walker Keane
December 1994 to May 1995 Heidi Adam
May 1995 to November 10, 1995 None

Coordinating Producers

Duration Name
September 1988 to 1990 Barbara Duggan
1990 to May 1995 None
May 1995 to November 10, 1995 Heidi Adam

Head Writers

Years Names
June 1983 – June 1985 Douglas Marland
June 1985– October 1987 Agnes Nixon
October 1987– April 1988 Ralph Ellis
September 1988 – 1991 Millee Taggart
Tom King
1991-December 1991 Mary Ryan Munisteri
December 1991–June 1992 Addie Walsh
June 1992 - September 1992 No Head Writer Credited
September 1992 – 1993 Millee Taggart
Robert Guza, Jr.
1993-Fall 1993 Millee Taggart
Fall 1993- Fall 1994 Agnes Nixon
Fall 1994-Early 1995 Addie Walsh
Laurie McCarthy
Early 1995–November 1995 Barbara Esensten
James Harmon Brown

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Award wins

Drama performer categories

Category Recipient Role Year
Supporting Actor Bernard Barrow Louie Slavinsky 1991[4]

Other categories

Other awards

References

  1. ↑ "Loving at TV.com", ABC. URL last accessed 2008-06-17.
  2. ↑ "Loving at TV.com", ABC. URL last accessed 2008-06-17
  3. ↑ McNeil, Alex. Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. 4th ed. New York: Penguin, 1996.
  4. ↑ "Daytime Emmys - 1991". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2013-03-07.

External links

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