The Best of Everything (TV series)
Encyclopedia
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 the 1959 film of the same name
.
and premiered alongside A World Apart
on ABC.
The show's theme was performed by country musician Connie Eaton
.
, coming in at bottom. It was the first time a soap opera came in this low, and it was the holder of this title until the 1982-1983 season, when The Doctors came in with 1.6.
The main reason for Best's failure was its time slot at 12 Noon/11 a.m. Central, against the original run of Jeopardy!
on NBC
, then at the height of its daytime popularity.
1969-1970 Season
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
daytime soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
which aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from March 30, 1970 to September 25, 1970. The series was a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of the 1959 film of the same name
The Best of Everything (1959 film)
The Best of Everything is a 20th Century-Fox film starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, Robert Evans, and Joan Crawford...
.
Plot
The show focuses on the young secretaries and their lives of an intense publishing firm: Linda, April, Kim, and Barbara. They were tormented by their ruthless head of editor, Amanda Key, and counseled by the warm and loving Violet Jordan. Although the soap opera was short-lived, there were several plotlines, including Kim being brutally attacked by a man who turned out to be Squirrel. The series also revolved around Barbara, who had become depressed since her marriage failed.Cast
- Geraldine FitzgeraldGeraldine FitzgeraldGeraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
as Violet Jordan - Gale SondergaardGale SondergaardGale Sondergaard was an American actress.Sondergaard began her acting career in theatre, and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut in Anthony Adverse...
as Amanda Key - Patty McCormackPatty McCormackPatty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad Seed...
as Linda Warren - Julie Mannix as April Morrison #1
- Susan SullivanSusan SullivanSusan Michaela Sullivan is an American actress, known for several notable roles on various television programs. Sullivan played the role of Lenore Curtin Delaney on the daytime soap opera, Another World ; waitress Lois Adams during the first season of the comedy It's a Living, Maggie Gioberti...
as April Morrison #2 - Katherine GlassKatherine GlassKatherine Glass is an American actress best remembered for her television work in the 1970s.-Career:Glass was raised as a Roman Catholic in New Haven, Connecticut. Before appearing on television, Glass played in several stock company productions, including Red, White and Maddox and as Trina in...
as Kim Jordan - Rochelle Oliver as Barbara Lamont
- Gwenn Mitchell as Ginnie Curtis
- Gregory Rozakis as Squirrel
Production notes
The soap opera premiered on March 30, 1970, at 12 Noon Eastern time. The Best of Everything replaced reruns of BewitchedBewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
and premiered alongside A World Apart
A World Apart (TV series)
A World Apart is an American daytime drama which ran from March 30, 1970 to June 25, 1971 on the ABC television network.-Overview:The initial stories were written by Katherine Phillips, adopted daughter of soap legend Irna Phillips...
on ABC.
The show's theme was performed by country musician Connie Eaton
Connie Eaton
Connie Eaton was a country music singer. Eaton was a native of Nashville, Tennessee and began her recording career as a teenager in the late 1960s, recording for Chart Records. Chart was the label that established Lynn Anderson as a major country singer and Eaton was considered by the country...
.
Broadcast history/ratings
Of the 18 soap operas aired in the 1969-1970 season, The Best of Everything did the weakest at the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, coming in at bottom. It was the first time a soap opera came in this low, and it was the holder of this title until the 1982-1983 season, when The Doctors came in with 1.6.
The main reason for Best's failure was its time slot at 12 Noon/11 a.m. Central, against the original run of Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, then at the height of its daytime popularity.
1969-1970 Season
- 1. As The World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS 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...
13.6 - 2. The Edge of NightThe Edge of NightThe Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
10.8 - 3. Search for TomorrowSearch for TomorrowSearch for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
10.0 - 18. The Best of Everything 1.8 (Debut)