ABC's cancellation of Ryan's Hope

[MalteseBaby]

^^Just recently saw Ilene and Nancy (Jillian) on early Law and Order episodes. I'll bet the casting director was well aware of the talent pool from RH!

We lost Nancy way too soon, but the last I read. Ilene Kristen was still doing some stage work. I keep hoping she'll come back again for a guest appearance on " GH" as Ava Jerome's mother. She was such a great character, and to me, the BEST younger actress on " Ryan's Hope". She took the role and put her indelible twist on so many little quirks and " Deliaisms".

You know, Nancy Addison was such a beautiful lady with tons of talent. I was just a little girl when she started playing Kit Vestid on " Guiding Light" which I'd watch with my mother.. I thought she had this exotic look with her huge cat's eyes, and she had this very smooth way of speaking.
She played such a tragic figure on RH, IMO. I wish she could have had tons of happy storylines, but she was great in the role of Jillian.

It's funny that Law and Order cast both Ilene and Nancy in the same episode, as Delia and Jillian fought over Frank Ryan for years, LOL.

[AMHardulak]

Nancy's beauty just mesmerized me! And you are soooo right--she left us much too soon. I remember reading that her husband planned to write a book about Nancy, but I don't know if he ever did.
As for our Delia--she was one in a million, wasn't she! On GH, they wrote it that Dee had had daughter Ava before Little John. (Wow--she would have been very young, I decided she must have gotten pregnant before her own mother died and gave the baby away! After Dee was orphaned, Mauve Ryan would have kept too watchful an eye on her)

[SharikaC]

If I remember correctly, Ryan's Hope aired at 12 noon in NYC. When it got cancelled, it was replaced by the local news. Loving, The City and Port Charles aired at 12:30pm. When the latter got cancelled, it was replaced by a half hour version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The timeslot was turned over to the local affiliates and that's what they chose to air. Then they decided to expand the local news to an hour and Millionaire got moved overnight. Actually it still airs overnight, but currently airs at 2pm ET.

As for the 11a.m. timeslot, there were several shows on the air in that time slot long before "The View" became the mainstay. The Home Show. I believe it had several hosts, but I remember Gary Collins hosting the show. Then there was the Mike & Maty Show. Then it was Caryl & Marilyn, who was known as "The Mommies" . That one didn't last. So many talk shows have come and gone.

[MoTownGrl06]

I found old episodes from the premiere on youtube and have been watching them during the pandemic. I am up to the point now where Delia is attempting to make Pat and everyone think she is crazy in order to get Pat's attention, Mary and Jack are divorced, but its obvious they still love one another and the Angel Nieves storyline.

[CamilaB.Luv]

I was sad that Nancy Addison passed away too! I wish Delia had stayed on GH as Ava's mom, like about 5 years ago!! I can't tell you how much I miss this show, and still have good memories of first seeing it in summer of 1975,for the first time!! Loved Ryan's Hope!!

[Brighton]

I loved watching Ryan's Hope when it originally was broadcast. I was in high school then so I missed most of the episodes. I enjoyed watching it when Soapnet aired the episodes and was sorry to see that end.

To this day, Delia Ryan is the only character that made me want to scream at the tv when she was on. What a fantastic actress Ilene Kristen was/is. Nancy Addison always made me want to root for Jill, even if she was the supposed bad person by having an affair with Delia's husband. I think there is still great acting on the soaps today. The great writing and stories seem more in the past. It's just different now.

[AMHardulak]

RH Head writer Claire Labine was an incredible talent. I remember breaking down in tears the day she died!

[CassadineSon]

In my local market (Columbus, OH ), LOVING aired at 11:30 am followed by local news the RH at 1230 right up til it ended.

[mooneyhill1]

In my local market (New York, NY): from 1985 to 1989, RH was on at 12PM EDT, followed by LOVING at 12:30PM EDT, which was on WABC-TV Channel 7.

[mooneyhill1]

I got an idea for the rerun episodes of RH, which will be on the new U.S. cable network: MoneyDrama. That will feature rerun episodes of RH from May 24, 1985 to the final episode on January 13, 1989.

You will see the characters: Johnny, Maeve, Frank, Jill, Patrick, Jack, Dave, Maggie, Katie, Roger, Bess, Max, Siobhan, Bill, Rick, Johnno, Chessy/Gabrielle, Delia, Ryan (this time as a grown-up young woman), D.J., Gloria, Stacy, Betty, Chantal, Devlin, Dakota, Melinda, Ben, Lizzle, Leigh, Chaz, Concetta, Evan, Emily, Fenno, Laslo, Mark, Nancy Don, Seneca, Sherry, Silvio, Zena, Homer, Kevin, Thomas, and more...

[fire_lookout]

I can't vouch for RH, as my babysitter didn't watch it. Instead, she watched AMC at noon, OLTL and 1pm, and GH at 2pm. I watched Loving and The City beginning in maybe 92', it bounced between the 11 and 11:30am time slots depending on the runtime of the show before it. The Home Show and possibly Mike and Maty fluctuated between 60-90 minutes depending on the season.

Port Charles was the one not carried by each of the local ABC affiliates in our area.

[JHope]

I don't think ABC was very committed to Ryan's Hope. They gave "Loving" that time slot due to the fact it was an Agnes Nixon soap (and I don't mean any disrespect to Agnes Nixon). ABC, in my opinion, had already screwed up "Ryan's Hope" several years before by "suggesting" they feature a mob storyline since GH had such success with it. Additionally, whoever was responsible for casting at RH also did harm to the show. Several of the recasts of major characters (aside from Faith) didn't work out. In my view, and perhaps you'll disagree, the show seemed to lose it's way around 1980. It never found the consistency it once had for an extended period of time after that.

[Link]

In my local market (Columbus, OH ), LOVING aired at 11:30 am followed by local news the RH at 1230 right up til it ended.

WSB channel 2 in Atlanta kept Ryan's Hope at 12:30pm as well and didn't air Loving for some reason until RH was cancelled, then the following Monday, Loving began airing at 12:30pm. I'm not sure if they carried Loving when it first began or just started it in 1989 after RH was off the schedule.