''The Best of Everything'' is an American daytime

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 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.

Plot

The show focuses upon four young secretaries and their lives in an intense publishing firm: Linda, April, Kim, and Barbara. They were tormented by their ruthless head 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 mysterious villain named Squirrel. The series also revolved around Barbara, who had become depressed since her marriage failed.

Production history

The soap opera premiered on March 30, 1970, at 12 Noon Eastern time (11 a.m. Central). ''The Best of Everything'' replaced reruns of '' Bewitched'' and premiered alongside '' A World Apart'' on ABC, which followed it at 12:30/11:30. However, the original version of ''

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 gene ...

,'' hosted by Art Fleming then, was at the height of its popularity on

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 ...

at that point, and ''The Best of Everything,'' much like its

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 ...

competition, '' Where the Heart Is,'' made practically no impact upon the ratings. ABC ran it for the then-minimum six months before canceling. This had also been the fate of an NBC serial that aired the previous year, '' Hidden Faces.'' Later in the 1970s, these failures, along with a few others, prompted networks to opt instead for expansion of some of their existing 30-minute serials to a full hour each day, minimizing the risk of new programs taking an overly long time to develop an audience. The series was executive produced by creator/headwriter James Lipton. Jacqueline Babbin was the producer. The packager was 20th Century Fox Television, in association with ABC. ''The Best of Everything'' was videotaped at ABC-TV Studio 17 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The series' opening and closing credits used a video shot of seagulls in flight over New York Harbor. Nashville artist Connie Eaton recorded a version of the series' instrumental theme, using lyrics which she sang on an episode telecast near the end of the program's network run. The single was released in 1970 by the Chart label. Both the theme song's melody and lyrics were composed by headwriter James Lipton.

Cast

Geraldine Fitzgerald Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (November 24, 1913 – July 17, 2005) was an Irish actress and a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed at number 30 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Early li ...

as Violet Jordan *

Gale Sondergaard Gale Sondergaard (born Edith Holm Sondergaard; February 15, 1899 – August 14, 1985) was an American actress. Sondergaard began her acting career in theater and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Awar ...

as Amanda Key *

Patty McCormack Patricia McCormack (born Patricia Ellen Russo in 1945) is an American actress with a career in theater, films, and television. McCormack began her career as a child actress. She is perhaps best known for her performance as Rhoda Penmark in Max ...

as Linda Warren * Julie Mannix as April Morrison #1 *

Susan Sullivan Susan Michaela Sullivan (born November 18, 1944) is an American actress. Sullivan is best known for her roles as Lenore Curtin Delaney on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Another World'' (1971–76), as Lois Adams on the ABC sitcom '' It's a Livin ...

as April Morrison #2 *

Katherine Glass Katherine Glass (born January 11, 1947) 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."Kathy takes a day at a time" by Jon-Michael Reed, ''The ...

as Kim Jordan * Rochelle Oliver as Barbara Lamont * Ginnie Curtis as Gwenn Mitchell * Gregory Rozakis as Squirrel * Victor Arnold as Ed Peronne * Barry Ford as Ken Lamont * Stephen Grover as Johnny Lamont * M'el Dowd as Kate Farrow * Ted LePlat as Randy Wilson * Diane Kagan as Anne Carter * James Davidson as Dexter Key * Bonnie Bee Buzzard as Joanna Key

Ratings

The 1969-70 season was the zenith of the soap opera format in the United States, as a record 19 soaps crowded the three major networks. Unfortunately, ''The Best of Everything'' was the worst in the Nielsens, coming in at the bottom with an awful 1.8 rating, one of the lowest figures ever recorded for a US soap opera. One reason for the show's failure was its time slot: 12 noon Eastern Time (11am Central), in which it competed against the original run of ''

'' on NBC, then at the height of its daytime popularity. (Also, "Best" was not cleared by many ABC affiliates, who preferred running local newscasts in the time slot.) 1969-1970 Season *1. ''

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 s ...

'' 13.6 *2. ''

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that netwo ...

'' 10.8 *3. ''

Search for Tomorrow ''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. Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show fo ...

'' 10.0 *13. '' Where the Heart Is'' 7.0 (aired on CBS in the same time slot) *19. ''The Best of Everything'' 1.8

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Best Of Everything, The 1970 American television series debuts 1970 American television series endings American television soap operas American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series based on adaptations Adaptations of works by Rona Jaffe