USA
/ NBC / x30m-e / 7 January 1974
- 18 April 1975
Broadcast: Mon.-Fri. 3:30-4 p.m.
How to Survive a Marriage was launched with a much-hyped
hour and a half opener featuring the first "nude" (implied
only, since the bodies were under covers) bedroom scene on
daytime television. The scene was between Larry Kirby and
his mistress Sandra Henderson, though Larry had had sex
earlier with his wife of 12 years, Chris. Larry decided to
leave Chris and daughter Lori for Sandra, but he reaped
bitter consequences, since Lori was hit by a car while he was
bedding Sandra. (The debut generated 150 negative calls to
NBC's Boston affiliate alone.) Later on, Larry realized he loved
his family, but his mother-in-law Monica hated him and
did everything to discourage a reconciliation between Larry
and Chris. It was not until the end of the run when Chris,
having been shocked out of her drinking problem when her
negligence at home led to Loris being hurt, recognized that
she still cared for Larry and not her boyfriend Dr. Max
Cooper. Likewise, Larry s patient treatment of Lori convinced
Monica that he was worthy of a second chance.
Other characters started out one way, but metamorphosed
into people who wouldn't have been at home in the previous
story lines. Feminist Dr. Julie Franklin, who had counseled
Lori on how she could and should become independent,
decided her life would be complete by getting married to
Dr. DeAngelo. Peter Willis, the male chauvinist pig who
flirted with the ladies while wife Joan sought solace in
alcohol, somehow transformed into being everybody's
confidante whose big problem was having a wife who did
not want a baby. (The story line twisted again and ended
with the two having a baby, but not before the pregnancy
was threatened by German measles, which, it turned out,
Joan didn't have after all.) And just why did the thrice-wed
Monica (Chris's mother) turn mother figure and adopt a
critically ill man abandoned by his gangster stepfather?
One element, however, was so consistent that it became
an in-joke among the show's staff. Anyone leaving the show
invariably had his or her character "transferred to Detroit,"
as was the case for Michael Landrum when he was written
out as Larry That was a better fate than what happened when
Alien Miller had to leave unexpectedly in the summer of
1974. His character David went into bankruptcy, then had a
heart attack and died, leaving behind his grieving wife Fran.
How to Survive a Marriage was the ultimate "relevant"
soap effort of the 1970s, from its self-help title to its
preoccupation with sex. Unfortunately, the series suffered
all the potential disadvantages of that approach, with long,
drawn-out, superficial psychotherapy discussions and stock
recitations of "women's lib" dogma taking precedence
over good old-fashioned storytelling. Viewers stuck by the
easier-to-take competition, Match Game on CBS and One
Life to Live on ABC.
Cast
Larry Kirby (1974).... Michael Landrum
Larry Kirby (1974).... Ken Kercheval
Larry Kirby (1975 at least).... Michael Hawkins
Chris Kirby.... Jennifer Harmon
Lori Kirby (1974 at least).... Suzanne Davidson
Lori Kirby (1975 at least).... Cathy Greene
Sandra Henderson (1974 at least).... Lynn Lowry
Dr. Julie Franklin (1974).... Rosemary Prinz
Dr. Tony DeAngelo (1974).... George Welbes
Monica Courtland.... Joan Copeland
Terry Courtland.... Peter Brandon
Fran Bach-man.... Fran Brill
David Bachman (1974).... Allan Miller
Rachel Bachman.... Elissa Leeds
Moe Bachman.... Albert Ottenheimer
Peter Willis (1974).... Steve Elmore
Peter Willis (1974-75).... Berkeley Harris
Joan Willis.... Tricia O'Neil
Dr. Max Cooper (1975).... James Shannon
Maria McGhee.... Lauren White
Johnny McGhee..... Armand Assante
Alexander Kronos (1974 at least).... Brad Davis
Joshua Browne.... H Murray Abraham
Susan Pritchett, R.N. (1975).... Veleka Gray
