Ryan's Hope
| Ryan's Hope | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by |
Claire Labine Paul Avila Mayer |
| Starring |
Helen Gallagher Bernard Barrow Michael Levin Kate Mulgrew Ron Hale Nancy Addison Altman John Gabriel Louise Shaffer Earl Hindman Michael Corbett Hannibal Penney, Jr. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 13 |
| No. of episodes | 3,515 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Claire Labine (1975–82) Paul Avila Mayer (1975–82) Ellen Barrett (1982–83) Joseph Hardy (1983–88) Felicia Minei Behr (1988–89) |
| Running time | 30 minutes (1975–1989) |
| Production company(s) | Labine-Mayer Productions (1975-1980) American Broadcasting Companies |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | July 7, 1975 – January 13, 1989 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | General Hospital |
Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, originally airing for 13 years on ABC from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989. It revolves around the trials and tribulations within a large Irish-American family in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
In late 1974, ABC Daytime approached Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, the head writers of CBS' Love of Life, about creating a new soap opera similar to General Hospital. Labine and Mayer added a large Irish-American family — the Ryans — to what ABC was initially calling City Hospital. Another of the show's working titles was "A Rage to Love," but that was soon changed. A pub theme originated with Mayer's and Labine's work on the earlier soap Where The Heart Is: "On WTHI we had had a prolonged sequence with two characters who were having an affair... on the other side of town in a small Irish bar."
Ryan patriarch Johnny (Bernard Barrow) owned a bar, Ryan's, across from fictional Riverside Hospital in New York City. His wife, Maeve (Helen Gallagher), assisted him in his duties, as did their children: Frank, Patrick, Mary, and Siobhan, who was introduced in the series in 1978, having spent the first three years away from New York City. The Ryans also had another daughter, Cathleen, who was married to Art Thompson and had two children: Maura (nicknamed Katie) and Deirdre. She was a housewife who lived with her family in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. The Ryans and the wealthy Coleridges were the original core families of the show. The soap took the then-unusual approach of situating itself in an actual community—the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. Maeve's parish sat in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge, on 178th St. References were often made to Central Park (Delia's Crystal Palace restaurant), Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn (mob-owned fishing boats), and other localities to provide a sense of place. "We wanted to show how New York has communities," Labine said.
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