Ryan's Hope

Soap Opera that ran on ABC from 1975-1989. The show focused on the Ryans, a working-class Irish family, and the Coleridges, an upper-class family, in New York City.

Although it had a short run by soap opera standards, and never achieved more than mediocre ratings (its best rating was 7th out of 14 in 1981), the show developed a cult following and is one of the few soaps to be re-run after its initial run.


 * Abandoned Hospital: The main setting of the Kenneth Castle storyline after he kidnapped Faith Coleridge - Kenneth kept her locked inside the surprisingly well maintained morgue of the old Riverside Hospital.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Jack Fenelli to Mary Ryan. Despite all but admitting that he married Mary for sex, and proceeding divorce proceedings while she was {6 months pregnant}, Mary wanted nothing more than to be with Jack. Fans gave the character the nickname of Jackhole for a reason...
 * Artifact Title: Arguably, an example of this several times during the run when new families were introduced and the storylines focused less on the Ryans. The most popular example is the period in 1982-1983, when the Kirklands were introduced; many in the cast referred to the show as "Kirkland's Hope".
 * Back for the Finale: Big time, as many characters (and actors) who had left the show in previous years (Pat Ryan, Faith Coleridge, Jill Coleridge, Rae Woodard) returned for the final two weeks of episodes. Kate Mulgrew, who first made a name for herself as Mary Ryan, returned as the disembodied voice of her deceased character.
 * Batman Gambit: For someone presented as so dense, Delia pulls off a beauty to get Pat Ryan to marry her (despite Pat's engagement to Faith Colefridge):
 * After losing custody of little John, Delia uses the family's distrust of Roger Coleridge (who blackmailed Frank about Frank's affair with Delia AND blackmailed Delia to continue an affair with him) to get Pat to rescue her from a planned cruise...which leads to a night of passion...on the ONE NIGHT she can get pregnant.
 * After being rejected by Pat, she goes to an abortion clinic and breaks down crying. The clinician call Pat's mother Maeve to rescue her - informing Maeve of the pregnancy. Maeve and Johnny, being the good Irish Catholics they are, insist Pat break his engagement to Faith and marry Delia.
 * Big Applesauce: The show was set in the Riverside neighborhood of Manhattan, and name-dropped many real-life New York city locales (e.g., Sheepshead Bay) at a time when most soap Operas took place in fictional, midwestern towns.
 * Fiery Redhead: Siobhan Ryan was originally this. Averted once the show recast the character as a dopey blonde played by Kelly Taylor's mom.
 * Dawson Casting: The first year of the show establishes that Maeve and Johnny Ryan have been married for 30 years, implying that Frank Ryan is around 28 years old. His (first) actor, Michael Hawkins, was 40 years old (just 10 years younger than the actors playing his parents) and looks every bit his age. Explained by the fact that, originally, the Frank character was to be killed off after the first 13 weeks, so the choice of actors was less consequential since the character would be unconscious in bed for the duration of the role.
 * Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Frank Ryan and his affair with Jillian Coleridge falls into the Good category. Despite continuing his affair after fathering a child with his wife, Delia, the Ryans treat Frank's affair with Jill as true love and all but blame Delia for his infidelity.
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes:
 * Averted in that episodes from the first 6 years of the show (1975 through 1981) were aired on Soap Net several times since 2000.
 * However, Soapnet has never shown any episodes past December 1981, repeatedly rewinding the show back to the 1975 episodes and beginning the run again. In particular, episodes from 1982 seem extremely rare. A good number of post-1983 episodes are posted on video sharing sites.
 * Looks to be true after September 2011, as Soapnet has plans to remove the show from its line-up.
 * Left Hanging: Faith never answered Pat's question ("Is Grace my daughter?") during the Grand Finale, although her facial expression indicates a "Yes".
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Bucky Carter.
 * Intrepid Reporter: Mary Ryan, to the point that her investigation (on her sister's wedding day!) led to her death. Later, the show tried to make cousin E.J. Ryan this.
 * The Irish Diaspora: The Ryan's were fiercely (and stereotypically) Irish, and even ran a typical Irish pub. St. Patrick's Day was celebrated throughout the years on the show, typically with Maeve singing Danny Boy.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Kenneth Castle and his love for Faith Coleridge, which included stalking, breaking and entering, and the murder of Ed Coleridge.
 * The Mafia: A major component of the show once Siobhan Ryan fell in love with Joe Novak, nephew of mob boss Tiso Novotny. Amped up to 10 once Siobhan became involved with Max Dubujak, described in a promo as "the most dangerous man in America".
 * May-December Romance: Michael Pavel and Rae Woodard. Occurred at the same time Michael Pavel was having an affair with Rae's married daughter. It did not end well.
 * Missing Episode: Mostly averted; although some episodes are lost due to tape damage, the show is one of the few pre-1980 soaps with its entire run intact.
 * Network Red Headed Stepchild: See Screwed by the Network below.
 * The Other Darrin: As with all soap Operas, multiple parts were recast over the years, particularly in the case of the Ryan children - Frank (5 actors), Pat (4 actors), Mary (3 actresses + one temporary actress), and Siobahn (5 actresses).
 * Settle for Sibling: Arguably, Delia to Frank Ryan. Delia was involved with Frank's brother Pat in high school, and desperately wanted to marry into the Ryan family. When Pat rejected her, she eventually dated and married Frank.
 * Screwed by the Network: After introducing Loving a year earlier, ABC gave Loving the 12:30pm time slot in 1984 that Ryan's Hope had occupied since 1977. Ryan's Hope was moved to the noon slot, forcing affiliates to choose between this show and local news. Many chose news, and ratings for Ryan's Hope tanked.
 * SORAS: The Ryan grandchildren were aged in the 1980s. 10 year old Little John Ryan was aged to 19, and 7 year old Ryan Fenelli was aged to 15 (and played by Yasmine Bleeth).
 * Special Guest:
 * Appropriately, Nolan Ryan made an appearance in 1976.
 * Christopher Reeve, famous for playing Superman (who, notably, got his start on Love of Life which was written by the creators of {Ryan's Hope}) had a cameo in 1981 during the premiere of Kim Beaulac's play.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Frank Ryan and Jillian Coleridge.
 * The first several weeks of the show revealed the long-running love affair between Frank and Jill, due in part to Frank's unhappiness in his marriage to Delia. The nature of their love made most of the Ryan family (except Pat) side with Frank and accept (if not outright condone) the affair. Meanwhile, once Delia got caught in an affair with Roger Coleridge, hell hath no fury....
 * After Jill married Seneca Beaulac, she had a baby boy...who turned out to be Frank's.
 * After cheating on Frank with Ken George Jones, Frank broke up with Jill and began dating (and eventually became engaged to) her sister Faith. Right before the wedding, Frank got cold feet...thanks to his love for Jillian.
 * Typecasting: Andrew Robinson was cast as Frank Ryan after the original actor, Michael Hawkins, was fired in 1976. At the time, Robinson was best known for playing the Scorpio killer in Dirty Harry. ABC, arguing that viewers could not accept Robinson as a noble lawyer & councilman, demanded that the role be recast just 2 years later.
 * Weddings for Everyone: The finale revolved around the wedding of Jack Fenelli and the reception at Ryan's bar.