Loving (TV series)
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The soap opera Loving aired on ABC from June 27, 1983 to November 10, 1995.
It was co-created by Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland, two noted figures in daytime television in the US. ABC took the unusual step of premiering the show with a 2-hour primetime movie, starring much of the cast as well as Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page.
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 bumping down Ryan's Hope to give Loving a choice timeslot, and cast additions of such popular All My Children stars as Debbi Morgan (Angie) and Jean LeClerc (Jeremy), the ratings remained poor throughout the show's run. Loving, dubbed "the little show that could" by viewers, 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 selling his soul to the Devil.
Long-running characters included Ava (played by Roya Megnot and then Lisa Peluso), 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 (played by Lauren Marie Taylor) who was the only continuously running original cast member left when she was killed via a poisoned powder puff in summer 1995, and Gwyneth Alden (Christine L. Tudor, Elizabeth Savage, then Tudor), the long-suffering matriarch who never stopped loving her roguish ex Clay (James Horan, then Dennis Parlato) or her mentally disturbed children Trisha (Noelle Beck) and Curtis (Christopher Marcantel).
In early 1995, ABC finally had enough. They planned to cancel the show, and asked new headwriters 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 (Wesley Addy), Isabelle (Augusta Dabney, Celeste Holm, Patricia Barry, then Dabney) and Jeremy lost their lives, culminating in the reveal 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 Steffi (Amelia Heinle), Ally (Laura Wright), Alex (Randolph Mantooth), Angie (Debbi Morgan), Buck (Phillip Brown), Jacob (Darnell Williams), and Tess (Catherine Hickland) moved to Soho and began a new series, The City, which would run until March 1997.
Ratings history
Although Loving rated poorly throughout its history, its first few years were relatively encouraging. In its debut 1983-84 season it finished in 11th place, above the now ailing soaps The Edge of Night and Search for Tomorrow. It moved to a fairly comfortable 10th place for the next two seasons but by 1991 it was in last place and remained so until its cancellation.
The show was given the 12:30pm EST timeslot bumping Ryan's Hope up to Noon. This caused Ryan's Hope's ratings to plummett because many ABC stations pre-empted network programming at Noon for local news. Despite airing in the 12:30pm timeslot, Loving never achieved the ratings Ryan's Hope had during its glory years.
After ABC stopped airing network programming at Noon EST/11am PST/CST, Loving was made available to affiliates at Noon or 12:30pm. Many ABC O&Os in the Pacific and Central time zones moved Loving to 11am to air local newscasts at 11:30. Despite the timeslot changes on some affiliates, the national ratings for the show never improved.
It should be noted however that Loving did beat the #1 soap Young and the Restless in strong ABC markets (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadephia), however nationally the show was last place among all daytime soaps.