By The Beachwood TV Towns Affairs Desk

A Beachwood guide in-progress. Submissions welcome.
SOAPS
Show: All My Children
Town: Pine Valley
State: Pennsylvania
Where: Near Center City (Philly)
Popular Stores: The Boutique, The Glamorama
Popular Eatery: The Cluck-Cluck Chicken Shack
Show: As the World Turns
Town: Oakdale
State: Illinois
Size: Small Town
Amenities: Airport, TV Station, Luxury Hotel, 3 Major Newspapers, University, World-Renowned Hospital
Major Industry: Worldwide Enterprises

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Posted on September 10, 2007

By Julia Gray

Reflections upon watching the U.S. Open this week.
I’ve been into tennis for years. My dad is a great player and my mom was until her pesky knee gave out and got a bionic one. Nowadays, she’s fights rudeness and bad behavior with her knee. It’s quite the sight. Two of my sisters, Liza and Catherine, are solid players, but we hardly ever played together because the bickering got to be too much for players on the surrounding courts. I grew up playing on green clay courts in the western ‘burbs, where one had to wear white tennis togs and the Wilson T2000 was the racquet to have. My dad had one, but ended up ditching it for a Wilson Jack Kramer. What was great about the clay is we could do awesome Bjorn Borg-esque slides, and get green clay everywhere. Those were the days.

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Posted on September 6, 2007

By Kathryn Ware

Our tribute to the 35th anniversary of the debut of Maude continues.
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Season 1, Episode 4
Episode Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter
Original airdate: 3 Oct 1972
Plot: Maude’s livid that Carol is dating Russell Asher, world famous author and noted lady-killer. Could her extreme reaction have anything to do with the fact that Maude dated Russell once upon a time? Maude insists it’s because Russell is a rake who is twice, no, make that three times Carol’s age.
Russell arrives to pick Carol up for their date. They’re taking a helicopter into the city for his appearance on The Tonight Show . . . with Johnny Carson. Maude insults Russell at every turn. After the couple leaves, Maude worries that Russell will dump Carol the way he did Maude. The next morning, Maude learns that Carol is breaking up with Russell because he called her by her mother’s name.

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Posted on September 5, 2007

By Kathryn Ware

Our tribute to the 35th anniversary of the debut of Maude continues.
*
Season 1, Episode 3
Episode Title: Maude Meets Florida
Original airdate: 25 Sept 1972
Plot: Maude frantically cleans the house in preparation for the arrival of the new housekeeper. Walter’s cranky because step-grandson Phillip kept him awake all night practicing swearing into a tape recorder. Maude is hypersensitive about making the black housekeeper feel welcome and above all Equal with a capital E. It seems Maude has a habit of spoiling black maids (“A black maid says hello and you say sorry”) to the point where Walter has to fire them.
Enter Esther Rolle as Florida Evans, soon to spin-off in Good Times just as Maude did from All in the Family.

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Posted on September 4, 2007