''How to Survive a Marriage'' is an American

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically 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 ...

which aired on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television network from January 7, 1974 to April 18, 1975. The serial was created by

Anne Howard Bailey Anne Howard Bailey (July 26, 1924 – November 23, 2006) was an American writer known particularly for her work as a screenwriter and opera librettist. Life and career Born and raised in Memphis, Bailey attended Rhodes College, where she g ...

, with much input from then-NBC Vice President

Lin Bolen Lin Bolen (March 21, 1941 – January 19, 2018) was an American television executive and producer. She was most noted for her role at NBC daytime television programming as the first female vice president of a TV network, a position she held from ...

. The show's working title was ''From This Moment'' and was an in-house NBC production. A total of 332 episodes were produced (255 in its first season, and 77 in its final season).

Synopsis

Larry and his wife Christine (nicknamed "Chris," played by Jennifer Harmon) soon divorced and while battling for custody of their daughter Lori, Chris entered the workforce. On

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

1975, Chris and Larry remarried, and she then battled

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. Initially, the show featured veteran soap actress

Rosemary Prinz Rosemary Prinz (born January 4, 1931) is an American stage and television actress. She is most known for her work in the early era of the soap opera, ''As the World Turns''. Prinz originated the role of M'Lynn Eatenton in '' Steel Magnolias'' ...

in the role of Dr. Julie Franklin, a staunch

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

who counseled her friends on the joys of being an independent woman, only to decide that her life was truly complete by marrying a man. Prinz only agreed to stay on the show for a short time (as she had with ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...

'' several years earlier), and earned top billing, a three-day work week, and supposedly $1,000 an episode, which was a big salary for a soap actress to earn in the 1970s. After six months Julie left town to marry Dr. Tony DeAngelo. Another major story centered on Fran Bachman (

Fran Brill Fran Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on ''Sesame Street'', as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film '' Being There'' (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest fi ...

) coping with sudden widowhood. Brill received over a thousand letters of condolence from viewers.

Ratings and cancellation

The show did not profit from the large lead-in that the high-rated '' Another World'' provided, mostly due to its many attempts to be socially relevant, which usually took the place of traditional storytelling to which American soap viewers at the time were acclimated. ''How to Survive a Marriage'' ran a distant third in the 3:30 p.m. timeslot, behind ''

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelist ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

(then daytime TV's highest-rated program) and ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') 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 ...

'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

; a move to 1:30 p.m. on January 6, 1975 after the cancellation of the original version of the famed game ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' (it was done to enable ''Another World'' to expand to an hour) only brought worse ratings, as it faced two longtime favorites on the competing networks, CBS' ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') 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 soa ...

'' which was expanded to an hour (11 months later) and ABC's ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is an American television musical comedy variety-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 an ...

.'' Despite NBC's high hopes for'' How to Survive a Marriage'' it would only last on the air for sixteen months, ending on a Thursday (the 1:30–3:00 p.m. block on NBC was preempted the following day for a 90-minute special, ''First Ladies' Diaries: Rachel Jackson''). The Monday after, ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' expanded to an hour and assumed the vacant half hour left in NBC's daytime schedule. ''How to Survive a Marriage'' thus holds a rather dubious distinction as not only the first soap opera to become a victim of the first daytime serial, its sister NBC soap ''Another World,'' expanding to a full hour, but the second one as well, ''Days of Our Lives.'' Numerous other existing serials on ABC and CBS would expand to 60 minutes daily over the next five years or so, cutting down on the number of open 30-minute timeslots available, meaning few if any serials could be launched. This was a strategy employed to minimize risks of new 30-minute shows like ''How to Survive a Marriage'' failing to develop an audience in a timely enough manner to suit the networks and advertisers; several other serials had been canceled over the previous several years due to that issue, including ''How to Survive a Marriage''s two predecessors.

Cast

Fran Brill is now best-known for her work on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'', where she performed Muppet characters, including Zoe and

Prairie Dawn The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, ...

, from 1970 to 2014. Other cast members included

Ken Kercheval Kenneth Marine Kercheval (July 15, 1935 – April 21, 2019) was an American actor, best known for his role as Cliff Barnes on the television series ''Dallas'' and its 2012 revival. Early life Kercheval was born on July 15, 1935, in Wolcottvill ...

(Larry Kirby #2),

F. Murray Abraham F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he came to prominence for his acclaimed leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film '' Amadeus'' (1984) for which he wo ...

(Joshua Browne),

Armand Assante Armand Anthony Assante Jr. (; born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He played mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film '' Gotti'', Odysseus in the 1997 mini-series adaptation of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', Nietzsche in ''When ...

(Johnny McGhee), and Brad Davis (Alexander Kronos).

Awards and nominations

The serial won Best Sequence at the third annual ''Afternoon TV Writers & Editors Awards'', for "The Death of David Bachman." Fran Brill also won an award from the ''Afternoon TV Writers & Editors'' for her portrayal of Fran Bachman during the same award-winning sequence.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:How To Survive A Marriage American television soap operas NBC original programming 1974 American television series debuts 1975 American television series endings English-language television shows