THE SOAPS : ‘LOVING’ CREATOR RECALLS HIGHS, LOWS

“Loving,” which premiered on daytime television on June 27, 1983, was the first daytime soap opera to debut as a two-hour movie. “Loving” was the first daytime soap to carry through with a story on incest. And “Loving” was the first daytime soap to present an authentic story of a Vietnam veteran trying to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

All these “firsts” were conceived, in whole or in part, by the show’s creator and head writer, Agnes Nixon.

Nixon got her start in daytime drama working with Irna Phillips, credited as being the founder of daytime soap operas.

In her beginning years, Nixon worked on the Phillips-created soaps “As the World Turns,” “Guiding Light” and “Another World.” She also wrote scripts for “Search for Tomorrow.”

“One Life to Live,” the first soap created by Nixon, debuted on ABC-TV in July, 1968. In January, 1970, her second creation, “All My Children,” made its debut on ABC.

What does Nixon consider to be the elements of a successful soap opera?

“I believe that it takes three-dimensional, believable characters in suspenseful situations,” she said. “I also think that the stories should reflect the current times and should include a good cross-section of types of people. Because you have viewers from 8 to 80, it’s also important to feature characters from a wide range of age groups.”

Over the years, “Loving” has had its highs and lows.

Remembering the high points, Nixon said: “I think love stories are always popular. I think that the Steve-Trisha (John R. Johnston and Noelle Beck) story and the Jack-Stacey (Perry Stephens and Lauren-Marie Taylor) story that was complicated by Ava (Roya Megnot) worked extremely well for us. Also, the Father Jim-Shana (Peter Davies and Susan Keith) love story has been successful.

“Personally, I liked doing the delayed stress syndrome story line with Mike Donovan (played by James Kibird). We were the first to do that story, even before the movies did it, and I believe we covered the story in a realistic way.”

Pointing out one of the show’s low points, she said: “One plot that I felt didn’t get the response I thought it would was the Keith-Jonathan (John Hurley) story. I was so into the story that I thought the audience would pick up on it more than they did. I do think that the audience liked the story, but they just didn’t get the ramifications of it.”

Looking to this summer, Nixon said: “We’ll be doing something of a public service story on alcoholism. The story, which will revolve around April and her cousin Marty (Isabelle Glasser), will stress that alcoholism is a genetic disease. I think it will be fascinating.

“We’ll also be doing a double-career marriage story with Shana and Jim. I think this is a problem in a lot of young marriages today, and as a viewer, I’m anxious to see what Shana will do about her career.”