Hidden Faces (American TV series)

Last updated
Hidden Faces
Genre Soap opera
Created by Irving Vendig
Starring Conard Fowkes
Louise Shaffer
Tony Lo Bianco
Stephen Joyce
Linda Blair
Gretchen Walther
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes127
Production
ProducerCharles Fisher
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseDecember 30, 1968 (1968-12-30) 
June 27, 1969 (1969-06-27)

Hidden Faces is an American soap opera that aired on NBC from December 30, 1968 to June 27, 1969. [1] The series was created by Irving Vendig, who also created the serial The Edge of Night . The serial focused on a law firm that was dealing with a high profile murder case throughout its 127-episode run; the main romantic angle had the firm's senior partner, Arthur Adams, becoming involved with client Kate Logan, a female surgeon accused of murder, which Adams and partner Nick Turner acquitted her of. Charles Fisher was the producer of the program, which was an in-house NBC production. [2] [3]

Contents

The show was a production of NBC, and was the only NBC-owned soap opera at the time. (The network was later to own How to Survive a Marriage and to purchase The Doctors from that show's sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive.)

The show's leading stars were Conard Fowkes as Adams, Gretchen Walther as Logan, and Tony Lo Bianco as Turner. Others in the cast included Linda Blair, Robin Braxton, Ludi Claire, Betsy Durkin, Joseph Daly, Rita Gam, Lloyd Hollar, Stephen Joyce, John Karlen, Nat Polen, Roy Scheider, and Louise Shaffer. [4]

Broadcast history

Hidden Faces replaced Let's Make a Deal at 1:30 p. m. (12:30 Central) after disputes between NBC and Let's Make a Deal packagers Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall caused the game/participation show to move to ABC. Facing the ABC Let's Make a Deal and CBS' As the World Turns , Hidden Faces performed poorly and, in an unusual move for daytime serials in that era, was cancelled after only six months in favor of the Bill Leyden-hosted game You're Putting Me On . With almost all of the fans of Let's Make a Deal's following their show to ABC, Hidden Faces could not get a foothold among viewers, since soap opera fans instinctively preferred the then-top-rated As the World Turns.Hidden Faces was the first of eight programs that NBC put in the timeslot of Let's Make a Deal between its departure and the expansion of Days of Our Lives to an hour on April 21, 1975. Of those eight shows, only Three on a Match lasted longer than a year.

An episode of this program may exist, due to a scene being uploaded to YouTube in Feb. 2023, although most tapes of the series were erased by NBC, per the standard practices of that time.

Related Research Articles

A soap opera, daytime drama, or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.

Passions is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and produced by NBC Studios, Passions follows the lives, loves and various romantic and paranormal adventures of the residents of Harmony, a small town in New England with many secrets.

<i>The Edge of Night</i> American television crime drama and soap opera (1956–1984)

The Edge of Night is an American mystery crime drama television series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions.

<i>Dark Shadows</i> American gothic soap opera

Dark Shadows is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinsport, Maine, where a number of supernatural occurrences take place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Slezak</span> American actress

Erika Slezak is an American actress, best known for her role as Victoria "Viki" Lord on the American daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 1971 through the television finale in 2012 and again in the online revival in 2013. She is one of the longest-serving serial actors in American media. For her portrayal of Viki, she has won six Daytime Emmy Awards, the most of any daytime drama actress.

<i>Guiding Light</i> American radio and television soap opera

Guiding Light is an American radio and television soap opera. Guiding Light aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio between January 25, 1937, and June 29, 1956. With 72 years of radio and television runs, Guiding Light is the longest-running American soap opera, ahead of General Hospital.

<i>As the World Turns</i> American television soap opera

As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light. With 13,763 hours of cumulative narrative, As the World Turns has the longest total running time of any television show. In terms of continuous run of production, As the World Turns at 54 years holds the fourth-longest run of any daytime network soap opera on American television, surpassed only by General Hospital, Guiding Light, and Days of Our Lives. As the World Turns was produced for its first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010.

<i>One Life to Live</i> American television soap opera

One Life to Live is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes via Prospect Park from April 29 to August 19, 2013. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature ethnically and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social issues. One Life to Live was expanded from 30 minutes to 45 minutes on July 26, 1976, and then to an hour on January 16, 1978.

<i>Lets Make a Deal</i> American game show

Let's Make a Deal is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, the latter serving as its host for nearly 30 years.

<i>Loving</i> (TV series) American soap opera

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

<i>Santa Barbara</i> (TV series) American television soap opera (1984–93)

Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera that aired on NBC from July 30, 1984, to January 15, 1993. The show revolves around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California. Other prominent families featured on the soap were the rival Lockridge family, and the more modest Andrade and Perkins families.

<i>Search for Tomorrow</i> American soap opera (1951–86)

Search for Tomorrow is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986.

General Hospital is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running American soap opera in production, and the second in American history after Guiding Light. Concurrently, it is the world's third longest-running scripted drama series in production after British serials The Archers and Coronation Street, as well as the world's second-longest-running televised soap opera still in production. General Hospital premiered on the ABC television network on April 1, 1963. General Hospital is the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood, and the longest-running entertainment program in ABC television history. It holds the record for most Daytime Emmy Awards for Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, with 14 wins.

<i>Texas</i> (TV series) American daytime soap opera

Texas is an American daytime soap opera that aired on NBC from August 4, 1980 until December 31, 1982, sponsored and produced by Procter and Gamble Productions at NBC Studios in Brooklyn, New York City. It is a spin-off of Another World, co-created by head writers John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington, and executive producer of Another World at the time, Paul Rauch. Rauch held the title of executive producer for the parent series and its spin-off until 1981.

How to Survive a Marriage is an American soap opera that aired on the NBC television network from January 7, 1974 to April 18, 1975. The serial was created by Anne Howard Bailey, with much input from then-NBC Vice President Lin Bolen. The show's working title was From This Moment and was an in-house NBC production.

<i>First Love</i> (1954 TV series) 1954 American TV series or program

First Love is an American soap opera which ran on NBC Daytime from July 5, 1954 to December 30, 1955.

<i>Harold Robbins The Survivors</i> American television series

The Survivors is an American primetime soap opera aired by the ABC television network as part of its fall 1969 lineup.

You're Putting Me On! is an NBC game show in which celebrities tried to communicate the identities of famous people through odd and interesting clues. Bill Leyden was the original host, with Larry Blyden taking over halfway through the run. The program was broadcast from June 30 to December 26, 1969, at 1:30 pm.

The Best of Everything is an American daytime soap opera which aired on ABC from March 30, 1970, to September 25, 1970. The series was a spin-off of Rona Jaffe's 1958 novel The Best of Everything and the 1959 film of the same name.

<i>Days of Our Lives</i> American daytime soap opera (1965–present)

Days of Our Lives is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed new episodes on Peacock since September 12, 2022. The soap is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965. A co-production of Corday Productions and Sony Pictures Television, the series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday and Betty Corday. During Days of Our Lives' early years, Irna Phillips served as a story editor for the program and many of the show's earliest storylines were written by William J. Bell, who would depart the series in 1975 to focus full-time on The Young and the Restless, which he created for CBS in 1973. Following the 2007 cancellation of Passions, Days of Our Lives remained the only soap opera airing on NBC. On August 3, 2022, NBCUniversal announced that it would relocate the series exclusively to its Peacock streaming service beginning September 12, after 57 years on the network, leaving NBC as the only Big Three network without a daytime serial.

References

  1. Schemering, Christopher (1987). The Soap Opera Encyclopedia (2nd ed.). Ballantine Books. pp. 139–140. ISBN   0-345-35344-7.
  2. Erickson, Hal (2009-10-21). Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows: Factual and Fictional Series About Judges, Lawyers and the Courtroom, 1948-2008. McFarland. ISBN   9780786454525.
  3. LaGuardia, Robert (April 19, 1983). "Soap world". New York : Arbor House via Internet Archive.
  4. Copeland, Mary Ann (1991). Soap Opera History. Publications International. p. 269. ISBN   0-88176-933-9.